A Frontier Airlines flight encountered a terrifying incident at Los Angeles International Airport when a pair of service trucks failed to yield as the aircraft was taxiing for departure.
Frontier Pilot Slams On Brakes After Trucks Cut Off Plane At LAX
A Frontier Airlines pilot was forced to slam on the brakes while taxiing at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) after two trucks suddenly crossed in front of the aircraft.
According to air traffic control audio, the Airbus A321 was taxiing for departure to Atlanta (ATL) when the incident occurred. Here’s ATC audio:
Pilot: Hey, Grant, did you see this?
Air Traffic Control: No
Pilot: Two trucks just cut us off. We had to slam on the brakes not to hit them.
Air Traffic Control: Who’s asking? Is that Frontier?
Pilot: Yeah, it’s Frontier.
Air Traffic Control: …Two trucks cut off Frontier at Kilo and Bravo at the service road. Frontier, do you have eyes on them? Which direction are they going?
Pilot: They were going eastbound.
Air Traffic Control: Eastbound, and they’re still there next to you?
Pilot: One turned off, one kept going, I think. One turned left, one kept going straight.
Air Traffic Control: Okay, do you have any markings, company name or anything like that on them?
Pilot: Nah, it happened so fast. Both of us were just like, holy shit, and we were just slammed on the brakes. I’m going to have to call the flight team to make sure everybody’s alright in the back. It was real close, the closest I’ve ever seen.
Air Traffic Control: One of the ones that’s off your 10 o’clock there?
Pilot: Yeah.
Air Traffic Control: That is the one off your 10 o’clock?
Pilot: Umm, nah, he’s turning left now. He’s up further up. It looks like Charlie, Charlie 10 maybe.
Air Traffic Control: Okay, I see him scurrying away. City officers, one of them might be the one that’s entering Charlie 10.
Police Officer: Roger, I’ll head over there.
Air Traffic Control: 3216, let me know if you require any assistance.
Pilot: No, we’re good. It was just as close as I’ve ever seen it.
You can also listen to the above conversation below:
The audio is more sobering than the transcript: this was a near-collision that unfolded so quickly the pilots barely had time to react. As View From The Wing stated, after the New York LaGuardia Air Canada tragedy last month, this becomes even more sobering…while this wasn’t a plane landing, it could have turned out much worse had the pilots not acted decisively.
We tend to think of aviation safety primarily in terms of pilots and air traffic controllers, but airports are busy “cities” filled with fuel trucks, catering vehicles, baggage carts, and maintenance crews. There is one rule that all must follow: yield to the aircraft.
Here, two trucks managed to cross directly in front of a taxiing aircraft, a serious safety failure. Were they on cell phones? Otherwise distracted? Based on the ATC audio, it appears they tried to “scurry” away like rats.
The only reason this didn’t turn into something far worse is because the pilots reacted quickly. Kudos to them for paying attention…
CONCLUSION
A Frontier Airlines pilot had to slam on the brakes to avoid hitting two trucks at LAX…an incident he described as the closest call he has ever seen.
Part of me thinks our world of real-time news and social media magnify everything and therefore the “situation” today is not necessarily worse than in the past. But even if that is the case, this situation was 100% unnacceptable. Thankfully, no one was hurt this time.
image: Aero Icarus / WikiMedia Commons
How many near-misses, accidents, and deaths will it take to remedy this? There has to be a better way.
There is.
And I keep getting trashed for speaking up.
Most people are just too dumb and scared.
Cute.
Good to know they’re able to send the police after these jerks. When a pilot says it’s about as close as it can get, I believe them.
There needs to be charges for putting lives at risk here, not just firing or disciplinary actions.
Makes you wonder how far down the drain airports are in their hiring practices, along with are they drug testing after hiring?
And history continues to repeat itself dangerously…
Please be informed that the F9 A320-200 (N213FR) in the article photo (nicknamed “Montana the Elk”) is no longer part of the airline’s current fleet. Delivered in May 2011, this 180-passenger jet featured “Montana the Elk” on its tail was involved in a serious runway excursion incident in June 2021 at DCA. The aircraft was removed from service and stored on March 31, 2023, at TPA. According to records, it was leased as PK-AZV by late 2023.
Hopefully inflight was seated and belted in, often they may be up finishing up briefing. Could have been serious injury in cabin.
Yes and hopefully no idiot was using his laptop during the taxi!
LOL Matthew
Came for this comment, was not disappointed! 🙂
When did this happen? According to Guntutk Ustun, the plane has been out of service since 2023.
The F9 A320-200 (N213FR) experienced an incident on June 4, 2021, while landing at DCA. The jetliner touched down, but went right off the runway coming to a stop to the right of the runway with all gear on soft ground and the nose gear just abeam the end of runway. There were no injuries, the aircraft sustained minor if any damage. The passengers dismebarked via stairs onto the runway and were bussed to the terminal. The F9 A320-200 (N213FR) was subsequently pushed back onto the runway and towed to the apron. The aircraftt returned to service after maintenance. It left the F9 fleet about two years later and joined the PK-AZV fleet on October 26, 2023.
I just used a stock photo – I don’t have a night photo of the aircraft from LAX that is not copyright protected.
When I worked at Transiplex at the North end of SEA, a US Customs inspector was toodling along the ramp or tarmac or alley whilst a tristar was taxiing. Until, that is, when Claudia with bright insouciance bee lined right in front of the aircraft. She was the sweetest, soft spoken French lady. Never would’ve thought she had dreams of Le Mans Seattle!
Let’s put this in perspective, an aircraft is exiting the ramp area taxiing at a brisk walking pace and two ramp vehicles cut him off traveling on the service road. Could it caused an incident, perhaps? Dramatics aside, this is hardly a near catastrophic accident as suggested.
The vehicles were on a service road not controlled by ATC. Vehicles are supposed to give way to aircraft and in this instance, they didn’t. Should they be reprimanded, of course. There’s enough cameras around they’ll find the culprits and they will be dealt with accordingly.
Situations like this occur every day at an airport somewhere near you, not newsworthy whatsoever in my opinion.
If the vehicles were crossing a runway I would agree that could be catastrophic, as we’ve unfortunately seen recently. Crossing a taxiway, not so much.
Pilots have told me that one of the most dangerous parts of the flight process is on the ramp!
The airport ramp is one of the most dangerous areas in aviation, with over 80% of ramp incidents occurring during critical gate arrival and departure phases, such as when vehicles enter/exit or when aircraft park. Nearly 43% of accidents happen in the immediate gate stop area due to high-risk, confined operations. On the other hand, while the ramp is exceptionally dangerous for ground operations, studies regarding the flight itself often cite landing and takeoff as the most dangerous phases for the aircraft, with about 70% of accidents occurring during landing and approach.