The United States air travel system has had another near-miss, this time at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).
On September 28, an American Airlines pilot had to make a sudden stop and abort takeoff as a cargo plane crossed the runway.
The American Airlines plane was going about 167 miles per hour when it slammed on the brakes to avoid hitting a German cargo plane that turned onto its runway, according to CNN.
A Boeing 777 plane operated by cargo company AeroLogic and using the call sign German Cargo 619 landed at LAX at 10:33 p.m. on Sunday. The aircraft was waiting between two runways to taxi to its parking spot while American Airlines flight 2453 to Boston was preparing for takeoff.
Air traffic controllers instructed the AeroLogic jet to cross onto runway 25L, but instead the pilots turned right onto 25R, the same runway as the American plane.
“American 2453, cancel takeoff clearance,” the control tower said, according to audio from LiveATC. The American Airlines pilot then confirmed the plane was stopping. The passenger jet came to a stop a little over a mile from the cargo plane, according to CNN.
Fortunately, a collision was averted and no injuries or damage occurred.
“We thank our crew members for their quick action and our customers for their understanding,” the airline said in a statement to CNN. AeroLogic also confirmed to the news outlet that its plane “inadvertently crossed a runway,” and that it was investigating the incident.
Near-misses between planes have been an ongoing theme in air travel throughout 2025, with at least three high-profile episodes happening with passenger planes over the summer alone.
These types of incidents have been top of mind since the tragic mid-air collision that happened in January between a passenger jet and a military helicopter in Washington, D.C. Following that fatal accident, lawmakers uncovered documents that showed there were 15,000 near misses in between commercial planes and helicopters in the three years leading up to the collision.
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