Air France A350 turns wrong way at LAX, near American A321

An Air France Airbus A350-900 flying to Papeete made an unexpected left turn shortly after taking off from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on 7 November 2026, putting it close to the path of a departing American Airlines Airbus A321. According to AeroTime, no injuries or damage were reported and both aircraft continued to their destinations.

What happened

Air France flight AF28, a roughly 2.5-year-old A350-900 registered F-HUVK, took off from runway 24L, while American Airlines flight AA1660 to Dallas/Fort Worth, an A321-200 registered N191UW, departed from runway 25R, which lies to the south. AeroTime says the Air France crew was cleared for the SUMMR2 departure but turned left instead of following it, towards the American aircraft's path.

The two outlets give different times. AeroTime puts the departures at about 8.15 a.m. UTC, while One Mile at a Time says the incident happened shortly after 12 a.m. on Saturday 7 November. The sources do not reconcile this difference.

Air traffic control response

AeroTime reports that the American crew was at 2,000 ft and climbing towards 5,000 ft when controllers told it to hold at 2,000 ft. The Air France crew was ordered to turn immediately to a heading of 270 degrees, and the American crew received a traffic alert for an aircraft less than a mile away at its 12 o'clock position. Initial reports based on flight-tracking data suggested vertical separation of about 400 ft (121 metres), according to AeroTime. One Mile at a Time also notes the aircraft had less than a mile of separation.

The Air France crew was then sent direct to the DART waypoint to resume its climb, and the American flight was later cleared to 17,000 ft. When the controller asked about the turn and which departure had been assigned, One Mile at a Time says the Air France pilot twice replied with a form of “standby”. The pilots later confirmed they had been told to fly SUMMR2, per AeroTime. The controller advised of a possible pilot deviation and gave a telephone number for follow-up.

A pattern from runway 24L?

One Mile at a Time argues there is a recurring problem with runway 24L departures at LAX turning left into traffic from 25R. It cites a TAP Air Portugal A330neo that made an unauthorised left turn a couple of weeks earlier, and an Air France Boeing 777 that did something almost identical a couple of months earlier. The outlet suggests controllers might add an explicit warning against unauthorised left turns, but this is its opinion, and it says the cause is unknown. It also notes that a Tahiti-bound departure would normally head roughly west.

As of 8 November, AeroTime says no official findings or confirmed explanation had been published.

What this means for travellers

• Passengers on both flights completed their journeys, and no injuries were reported.
• A pilot deviation is a procedural matter that regulators review; the sources do not say whether a formal investigation has been opened or whether either airline has commented.
• The cause is not yet known, so it is unclear whether any changes to procedures at LAX will follow.
• Collision-avoidance safeguards here were controller instructions and a traffic alert, which is why prompt intervention matters for passengers on busy parallel-runway airports.

Readers comparing the two carriers can see our Air France vs American Airlines guide, or visit the American Airlines page.

Sources: AeroTime; One Mile at a Time.