The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating an incident in which a charter plane carrying the Gonzaga men’s basketball team nearly collided with another plane at Los Angeles International Airport on Friday.
The Bulldogs’ flight arrived at LAX around 4:30 p.m. on Friday, one day ahead of their matchup with No. 15 UCLA at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood. Their jet can be seen taxiing to its gate when a larger Delta flight was taking off. The Gonzaga jet was about to cross in front of the outbound Delta flight when an air traffic controller was heard repeatedly telling it to stop.
Thankfully, the jet stopped short of crossing in front of the Delta plane. Video of the incident was obtained by NBC.
The FAA confirmed to TMZ that it is investigating the incident.
“Our team members aboard the aircraft were unaware of the situation as it occurred, and we are grateful that the incident ended safely for all,” Gonzaga said in a statement to TMZ.
The incident was one of several in recent days, though it was by far the least-severe. A plane crashed in South Korea on Sunday and exploded after it skidded on the runway and slammed into a wall, killing 179 people. An Air Canada flight on Saturday had landing gear issues and caught fire as it skidded down the runway in Nova Scotia, too, though nobody on board was injured.
Near-misses like the one for Gonzaga men’s basketball have become increasingly common in recent years. The FAA said that there were more than 1,700 runway incursions during the 2023 fiscal year, and more than 1,100 in 2024, according to Newsweek. A New York Times investigation in 2023 found that near-misses have more than doubled over the past decade, though it’s unknown if that is due to “worsening safety conditions or simply increased reporting.”
No. 19 Gonzaga fell to the Bruins 65-62 on Saturday in Inglewood, which dropped them to 9-4 on the year. The Bulldogs will take on Pepperdine in Malibu on Monday night to open WCC play before returning home to Washington.
