An American Airlines flight had to “perform an expedited climb” in order to avoid a mountain during a routine departure out of Hawaii on Wednesday.
The plane had just departed from Honolulu International Airport and was on its way to Los Angeles International Airport.
Air traffic control can be heard telling the pilot “turn right and expedite your climb through terrain” on audio from the flight provided by LIVEATC.NET.
“Normally ATC will issue right turn instructions after takeoff at HNL,” said Steve Ganyard, a retired Marine colonel and ABC News contributor.
“Sounds like they didn’t do that, but it’s irrelevant because the standard instrument departure instructions mandate the turn away from high terrain right after takeoff,” he added.
MORE: Spirit Airlines and JetBlue planes struck by gunfire in Haiti
According to a statement from the Federal Aviation Administration, “An air traffic controller instructed American Airlines Flight 298 to perform an expedited climb after the crew did not make the assigned turn while departing from Honolulu International Airport.”