Gonzaga men’s basketball team narrowly avoids disaster on LAX runway
Dec 30, 2024, 11:49 AM | Updated: 12:26 pm
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is investigating a close call involving two planes nearly colliding at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), including one plane that had the entire Gonzaga Men’s Basketball team on it.
The plane with the Gonzaga student-athletes had just landed last Friday, Dec. 27, from Spokane at approximately 4:20 p.m. and was taxiing the passengers back to the terminal when air traffic controllers ordered to stop it as it got close to another commercial plane taking off at the same time.
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The FAA confirmed the plane, operated by Denver-based charter flight company Key Lime Air, was instructed to hold at a certain point so it would not cross the runway into the path of an Atlanta-bound Delta Airlines commercial flight taking off. But the plane with the Gonzaga team onboard continued to move forward past the intended holding point, leading the air traffic controller in the LAX tower to tell it to “STOP, STOP, STOP,” according to NBC Los Angeles.
A video of the incident was captured by Los Angeles TV News Photojournalist Kevin Ray and was uploaded to his YouTube channel, Airline Videos.
Despite the close call, the jet never crossed the runway edge line, according to NBC Los Angeles.
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“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,” Jon Coleman, Senior Vice President of Key Lime Air, said in a prepared statement. “We are working within our own Safety Management System and with the FAA to determine the facts of the event and will respond accordingly.”
Key Lime Air is currently cooperating with the FAA as the agency begins its investigation into the matter.
Frank Sumrall is a content editor at MyNorthwest. You can read his stories here and you can email him here
