Gonzaga basketball plane told to stop to avoid collision at LAX: Video

A private plane reportedly carrying the Gonzaga University men’s basketball team nearly crossed a runway at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) where another flight was taking off, sparking a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) investigation, according to reports.

Air traffic controllers stopped the private plane operated by Key Lime Air as a second plane took off from the runway around 4:40 p.m. Friday, the FAA said in a statement. Video of the close call showed the private jet stopping just as a Delta plane took off.

“As the Embraer E135 aircraft crossed the handrails, air traffic controllers asked the pilots to stop. “The jet never crossed the edge of the runway,” the FAA statement said.

The FAA is investigating the situation, the statement continued.

Key Lime Air Flight 563 was carrying the Gonzaga men’s basketball team, CBS News and the Los Angeles Times reported. According to FlightAware, the Key Lime plane departed Spokane International at 2:10 p.m. PST on December 27 and landed at LAX at 4:20 p.m. PST.

USA TODAY reached out to Gonzaga University and LAX on Tuesday but did not receive a response.

Air traffic controller: “Stop, stop, stop”

During a livestream video broadcast of the incident, an air traffic controller can be heard saying “stop, stop, stop” to the Key Lime plane.

“Wow! In the years I’ve been doing this, I’ve never heard (an) air traffic controller tell a plane to stop, stop, stop,” said plane spotter Kevin Ray, who created the YouTube channel on which You can hear the video posted, you can hear them saying.

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