An American Airlines flight avoided colliding with a Hawaii mountain range, narrowly averting disaster.
Flight 298 took off from Honolulu International Airport just after 1 a.m. on Wednesday en route to Los Angeles . However, the pilots didn’t take the correct turn while taking off, the Federal Aviation Administration said. This put them on a path toward Hawaii’s Koʻolau mountain range, CNN reports.
This meant the crew had to perform an “expedited climb” at the direction of air traffic control to fly above the mountain range.
“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,” the FAA said in a statement . “The controller’s actions ensured the aircraft remained safely above nearby terrain.”
An American Airlines spokesperson told CNN that the crew “complied with controller instructions.”
The spokesperson also noted that the Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System, which alerts an aircraft’s crew to a potential collision, did not go off during the incident.