Plane spotters at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) have alleged that a Delta Air Lines flight came scarily close to a charter flight when departing from the Californian airport’s runway.
Atlanta bound
DL471 departed Los Angeles for Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) on Friday, December 27, at 16:20, five minutes behind schedule. The aircraft operating the flight was an Airbus A321 (registration N317DN, serial number 7373). The flight arrived in Atlanta three hours and 48 minutes later, at 23:08 local time.
On its departure, it is alleged that the Atlanta-bound flight came close to a charter jet operated by Key Lime Air, that had just arrived from Spokane, carrying the Gonzaga University men’s basketball team.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has since launched an investigation into the alleged near-miss following reports of a close call occurring on the airport’s runway.
Key Lime Air was instructed to hold
According to a report from NBC Los Angeles, it is alleged that the charter flight, operated by an Embraer E135 jet of Key Lime Air, had been instructed to hold their position so they would not cross the runway and be in the path of DL471.
The charter flight appears to have rolled past its instructed holding point, which led to the air traffic controller repeating “stop, stop, stop.” An FAA spokesperson released this statement concerning the near-miss:
“Air traffic controllers directed Key Lime Air Flight 563 to hold short of crossing a runway at Los Angeles International Airport because a second aircraft was taking off from the runway at the time.”
“When the Embraer E135 jet proceeded to cross the hold bars, air traffic controllers told the pilots to stop. The jet never crossed the runway edge line.”
Key Lime Air has responded to questions about the incident at Los Angeles International Airport, and their Senior Vice President, Jon Coleman, shared a statement to NBC on Saturday:
“Key Lime Air takes pride in its pilots and training model, a regimen that demands the highest competency in the industry today. Safety of those entrusted to us is our highest priority.
“We are working within our own Safety Management System and with the FAA to determine the facts of the event and will respond accordingly.”
Simple Flying contacted Delta Air Lines for comment, and we will update this article when we receive a response.
Delta Air Lines flight continued to Atlanta
Delta Air Lines, a member of the Sky team alliance, confirmed to NBC that it was unaware of any communications made to Federal Aviation about the alleged near misses.
According to ch-aviation, the Delta aircraft involved was an Airbus A321-200 that first flew under French Airbus registration F-WZMT on January 30, 2017. The aircraft was subsequently delivered to Delta on February 10, 2017. Two CFMI CFM56-5B3/P engines power it.
While the investigation is ongoing, it would be unfair to speculate on who is at fault. However, this follows a string of near-miss instances at airports across the United States this year.
Simple Flying reported on a similar event in Chicago two weeks ago, when information surfaced about two United Airlines flights that needed to facilitate ‘go-arounds’ due to other aircraft in their way on the runway as they came in to land. Two close calls occurred in one day (Thursday, December 12th).
On December 12, UA1857, arriving from New York LaGuardia to Chicago, and UA546, arriving from Newark Liberty International Airport, both approached Chicago O’Hare International Airport but had to abort their landings due to traffic on the runway.