For the Gonzaga Bulldogs, it was supposed to be just another routine landing. But on December 27, 2024, at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) it was anything but routine. What many now have been calling a chilling brush with tragedy, the team’s chartered plane came scarily close to disaster.

On Friday afternoon, the Embraer E135 charter jet operated by Key Lime Air, touched down at LAX safely. The  plane was ferrying the Gonzaga University men’s basketball team from Spokane Washington. The plane taxied towards its gate, where air traffic controllers told it to hold short of a runway where a Delta Air Lines flight was about to take off.

But in the blink of an eye, or due to a miscommunication or oversight, the chartered jet started crossing hold bars, where it should not have been. Air traffic controllers screamed from the control tower, ‘Stop, stop, stop!’

The livestream video captured how close disaster was. The incident became viral in a short time. Shared on Collin Rugg’s X account, the incident involving the Gonzaga Bulldogs basketball team has drawn widespread attention.   “NEW: The FAA has launched an investigation after the men’s Gonzaga basketball team nearly got eliminated by a Delta plane taking off.”, the post states.

A video uploaded to YouTube by videographer Kevin Ray captures the tension of the moment. “Wow, in the years I’ve been doing this, I’ve never heard an ATC controller tell a plane to ‘Stop, stop, stop’ Ray remarked, emphasizing the rarity of such an occurrence.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) did not take long to order an investigation in the matter.  Early findings showed that indeed the Embraer E135 had crossed the hold bars before being commanded to stop. Fortunately it never came near to crossing the runway edge line and what would have been a catastrophic collision.

How is Gonzaga Bulldogs doing after the incident?

In a statement, Key Lime Air’s Senior Vice President Jon Coleman said that safety is the company’s primary concern. The airline has promised to fully cooperate with the FAA in the matter. Gonzaga University said that everyone involved in the incident was safe in a statement released by the university.

Although the Bulldogs of Gonzaga were allegedly frightened, they managed to demonstrate their professionalism. The next match was on the 28 of December 2024 against UCLA at the Intuit Dome. Despite the 65-62 lose in the game, there was no way one could tell that the previous day’s event had in any way influenced the performance of the team.

The incident reminds us how much we need to stay vigilant in aviation safety. Gonzaga and their fans can breathe a sigh of relief for now. The close call hasn’t settled the questions raised by it, though. But it will continue to be under scrutiny as the FAA, LAX, Key Lime Air and the systems that are supposed to prevent this from happening.

The FAA is still looking into the cause of the runway incursion, which includes records of communications between pilots and controllers and their flight operations and statements from controllers.Some suggestions on how to enhance safety measures at LAX will likely be called for as the probe continues.