A near-disaster at Los Angeles International Airport is now under investigation after two commercial jets came shockingly close to each other midair, according to aviation sources familiar with the incident.
The serious air safety lapse happened on Friday afternoon when an ITA Airways Airbus A330 bound for Rome and an American Airlines Airbus A321 heading to New York were cleared for take-off from adjacent runways at LAX. According to preliminary radar data, both aircraft had received precise separation instructions moments before departure: ITA AZ621 was to climb and then turn left only after reaching designated coordinates, while American Airlines Flight AA4 was cleared to climb and then bank right.
But just two minutes after wheels-up, the Italian aircraft reportedly initiated its left turn earlier than authorized, placing the two jets on converging flight paths while both were accelerating through approximately 350–400 km/h. Air traffic control detected the conflict and issued urgent commands — ordering ITA’s pilot to turn right immediately and instructing the American jet to stop climbing at 1,500 feet.
Investigators say the aircraft ended up separated by roughly 920 meters laterally and just 15 meters vertically — a distance that aviation experts say translates to only “five to six seconds” from a probable catastrophic collision.
After the emergency correction, controllers contacted the cockpit of the ITA jet and reprimanded the pilot for disregarding the clearance.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has opened a review, with Italian and U.S. aviation authorities expected to coordinate findings. Aviation analysts say this incident is likely to become a major case study in cockpit compliance and airspace congestion risk at major international hubs like LAX, which handles more than 500,000 aircraft movements annually.
Neither airline has publicly commented in detail, though industry officials note such loss-of-separation events are taken extremely seriously, even when no injuries occur. Experts also say cockpit voice recordings and ATC audio will likely be examined to determine whether miscommunication or pilot error was the primary cause.
Source:Africa Publicity
