Two United Airlines jets had a very close call several days ago, as a plane that had just landed accidentally entered a runway that was occupied by a plane that was taking off. Fortunately disaster was avoided, but this still ended up being quite the inconvenience.
United Airbus A321neo & Boeing 787-9 have LAX close call
VASAviation has the scoop on a very close call that happened at around 11:50AM on Monday, March 2, 2026, at at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). What went wrong here is pretty straightforward:
- United flight UA530 was an Airbus A321neo that was landing from Chicago (ORD); it was cleared to land on runway 24R, the airport’s northernmost runway
- The pilots of UA530 were given clear instructions to hold short of runway 24L (the parallel runway), which they’d need to cross to get to their gate; the pilots confirmed that they’d hold short of the runway, so there was no miscommunication there
- At the same time, United flight UA152 was a Boeing 787-9 that was departing for Hong Kong (HKG); it was cleared for takeoff on runway 24L, and the intent was that UA530 was supposed to hold short until after the plane took off
- The A321neo didn’t actually hold short of 24L as it was supposed to, and instead, entered the runway exactly as the 787-9 was barreling in its direction
- Fortunately the air traffic controller caught what was going on, and told the A321neo to cross the runway with no delay, and the 787-9 to cancel its takeoff clearance
According to flight tracking software Flightradar24, the 787-9 reached a maximum speed of 106 knots before aborting its takeoff. The 787-9 ended up having its brakes overheat (as is common, especially when you consider how “heavy” this plane was, as it was departing on a 15-hour flight), and it ended up needing to return to the gate.
The flight ended up being delayed by around eight hours — while it was supposed to depart at 11:10AM, it ended up taking off at 7:13PM.
You can hear the air traffic control audio for yourself below.
What could’ve caused this runway incursion?
This is a very unusual incident. For one, it was less than 20 seconds from the time the pilot of UA530 confirmed they’d hold short of runway 24L, to when they crossed runway 24L without authorization. That’s a really short amount of time to lapse for a mistake like that. It’s not like they were given that instruction 10 minutes earlier, and forgot.
For that matter, the lack of situational awareness is puzzling. They were all on the same frequency, so you’d think the pilots landing on runway 24R would hear the takeoff clearance for a plane on runway 24L.
So, how we make sense of something like this, when it seems like such an obvious error, and it could have life or death implications? I think there were possibly a couple of outside factors that may have contributed to this error, which might not have otherwise happened.
For one, this was quite a chaotic time at LAX, as a United 787 was also being evacuated via slides on the south side of the airport, so that shifted a lot of operations to the northern runways.
I can’t help but wonder if the pilots had maybe briefed for a landing on the south runways, but ended up being moved to the north runways. How does that matter in the context of being given instructions to not cross a runway?
It’s interesting to note that on the south side of the airport, there’s a taxiway between the two parallel runways, while that’s not the case on the north side of the runway. So I wonder if the pilots may have thought that runway 24L was actually a taxiway, and that caused the confusion.
No matter how you slice it, none of this fully makes sense. Runways and taxiways look different, there are hold short lines and runway lights, etc. You had two pilots in the flight deck, and neither realized this mistake? It’s bad…
Lastly, kudos to the air traffic controllers for their alertness and professionalism. They caught what was happening, and couldn’t have handled the situation better. Their focus was on getting everyone to their destination safety, rather than on ego, temper, etc., as you might find at New York Kennedy (JFK).
Bottom line
March 2 wasn’t a great day for United Airlines at LAX. While one 787 was being evacuated, another 787 had to abort its takeoff due to a United A321neo trying to cross the runway at the same time. There’s no good justification for this, in the sense that the pilot had just read back instructions to hold short of the parallel runway. Well done to the air traffic controllers for averting a catastrophe.
What do you make of this LAX runway incursion?
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