LOS ANGELES (CNS) – An investigation was under way Monday after two passenger jets narrowly avoided a mid-air collision after takeoff from Los Angeles International Airport.
Around 12:20 a.m. Saturday, an Air France plane bound for Tahiti took off at roughly the same time an American Airlines jet departed LAX in the same direction bound for Dallas, authorities said.
According to recordings of conversations between the various pilots and air traffic controllers, the Air France jet began veering to the left during its ascent, moving toward the flight path of the American Airlines jet. Air traffic controllers directed the Air France pilots to turn back to the right on its originally ordered path, while the American Airlines jet was told to reduce its altitude to 2,000 feet to avoid a possible mid-air collision…