Gonzaga basketball charter plane involved in close call with Delta jet on LAX runway
![A Delta Air Lines passenger jet takes off from Los Angeles International Airport while a charter jet with the Gonzaga University men’s basketball team is halted on a taxiway on Dec. 27, 2024. (Airlines Videos Live/YouTube)](https://thumb.spokesman.com/uO6q6eDqVn9RLDznlEJuDvMVKgE=/600x0/media.spokesman.com/graphics/2018/07/sr-loader.png)
The Gonzaga men’s basketball trip to Los Angeles on Friday afternoon got off to a frightening start when the team’s charter plane had a close call shortly after touching down at Los Angeles International Airport.
Video footage released by Airline Videos Live showed Gonzaga’s charter slowly taxiing toward a runway when Air Traffic Control hurriedly told GU’s plane to “stop, stop, stop” just as a Delta plane takes off nearby.
The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the incident, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The FAA told the Times that when the team’s Embraer E135 jet, operated by Colorado-based Key Lime Air, “proceeded to cross the hold bars, air traffic controllers told the pilots to stop.”
“The jet never crossed the runway edge line,” according to the FAA’s statement.
Following the incident, Air Traffic Control resumed communications, calmly instructing Gonzaga’s charter to proceed to the runaway in the 37-second video.
Gonzaga offered a brief statement Monday evening.
“We understand that the incident at LAX is under investigation and we will review this information as it becomes available,” the statement said. “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.”
Most of Gonzaga’s travel party wasn’t even aware there was an incident until news reports and video surfaced Monday morning. The flight from Spokane to LAX apparently had extended periods of turbulence.
It doesn’t appear on the video that Gonzaga’s charter and the Delta jet bound for Atlanta would have crossed paths.
Gonzaga lost to UCLA 65-62 on Saturday at Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California, and remained in the L.A. area for Monday night’s West Coast Conference opener against Pepperdine in Malibu.
Gonzaga basketball has traveled by charter since the 2007-08 season, funded at the time by donations from four boosters, then-Athletic Director Mike Roth said.
“Being in Spokane we have the worst travel of anyone in our league and we have to go places to play people,” head coach Mark Few told The Spokesman-Review in December 2007. “It’s not easy getting in and out of here. It’s a great move for the program academically and for how we do our business.”