Confused Air France pilots make wrong turn after takeoff from LAX, leading to difficult situation
An Air France Airbus A350 departing from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) made a wrong turn after takeoff, sending the plane dangerously close to the path of an American Airlines Airbus A321. The way pilots have reacted to this isn’t exactly great, although one thing is for sure: there appears to be a recurring problem with departures from the airport’s Runway 24L, whatever the cause.
Air France A350 pilots spoil LAX departure
YouTube Channel You can see that ATC has audio and visualization of an incident that occurred shortly after midnight on Saturday, November 7, 2026. This is Air France flight AF28, which was flying to Papeete, French Polynesia (PPT).
LAX has four parallel runways and the Air France A350 was cleared for takeoff on Runway 24L, on the north side of the field. The Air France pilots were instructed to fly initially towards the DLREY marker, instructions which they correctly reread.
Once they passed the DLREY marker, they were ordered to climb via their assigned SID (which they had received with authorization), but then the pilots suddenly turned left. The problem is that an American A321 had been cleared for takeoff on runway 25R moments earlier, and it is south of runway 24L.
Thus, when the Air France pilots began to turn left, they found themselves directly in the path of the American plane. Fortunately, the air traffic controller quickly detected it, but it triggered a traffic alert and the planes had less than a mile of separation.
Mistakes happen, but what’s strange here is how this was handled after the initial incident. The air traffic controller asked the Air France pilots why they had made a turn. The Air France pilot replied “waiting”, which is fair enough. Pilots are expected to focus on aviation first, then navigation, and finally communication.
Moments later, the air traffic controller followed up and asked what departure the pilots had been instructed to make. Once again the pilot responded “standby one”. I think the air traffic controller should have been a little more patient here when a pilot asks him to wait a second. At the same time, Air France pilots continue to stall and seem incapable of answering the question.
Of course, we don’t know what was going on in the cockpit (it’s possible they were dealing with something else), but the controller wasn’t asking a complicated question. The pilots eventually got a phone number for a possible pilot diversion.
It’s really a mystery what caused the pilots to make that left turn, especially since they were flying to Tahiti, which is essentially a direct departure west (and in the middle of the night, it’s not like you typically have to head east out of LAX).
LAX Runway 24L departures are a constant problem
No matter how good a system looks on paper, of course you need to consider human factors and how the systems are actually perceived. For somewhat mysterious reasons, there appears to be repeated problems with planes departing from Runway 24L at LAX making a left turn and veering into the path of planes departing from Runway 25R.
Just a few weeks ago, I explained how a TAP Air Portugal Airbus A330neo departing from LAX Runway 24L made an unauthorized left turn immediately after takeoff, placing itself in the path of another plane.
Hell, just a few months ago, an Air France Boeing 777 departing from LAX Runway 24L made a nearly identical mistake and turned left right after takeoff, even though it wasn’t supposed to.
This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the number of such incidents we have seen. I’m not sure what’s going on here, and whether it’s pilots programming their computers to depart from runway 25R, only to be assigned runway 24L, or what.
Either way, it seems like something should be done here. As redundant as it may seem when you’re sending pilots to a specific point (which already tells them which direction they should go), it almost seems like air traffic control needs to add a warning about not turning left without permission. I mean, it sounds stupid, but…
Conclusion
An Air France Airbus A350 departing from LAX made an unauthorized left turn after takeoff, sending it directly into the path of a departing American Airbus A321. The pilots seemed to really struggle to answer basic air traffic control questions, although I don’t know what was actually going on in the cockpit.
What’s so strange is that there appears to be repeated issues with departures from runway 24L, as we have now seen this “unauthorized left turn” situation from this specific runway multiple times in the last few weeks alone.
What do you think about this LAX Runway 24L issue?
Gn bussni
