By Aaron Cooper, CNN
(CNN) — An Air France plane taking off from Los Angeles International Airport made a wrong turn early Saturday morning, putting it in the path of an American Airlines jet, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
The close call happened when Air France Flight 28, an Airbus A350 headed for Tahiti, took off and made an “unauthorized turn” to the south, the FAA said.
Moments later, American Airlines 1660, an Airbus A321 headed for Dallas, was cleared to take off from a parallel runway heading straight toward the other plane.
“Air traffic control immediately issued corrective instructions to the Air France flight,” the FAA said in a statement.
“Air France 028 heavy, fly heading 270 immediately,” the controller warned the pilots in audio captured by ATC.com. “You were instructed to climb… not turn to a heading.”
At the closest point, the two aircraft were about 4,000 feet apart and within 1,000 feet of the same altitude, according to the tracking site Flightradar24. After they separated, both aircraft safely continued to their destinations.
“Sorry about that,” the air traffic controller told the American pilots. “That aircraft just turned in front of you. They were instructed they were on the right departure, but you know, pilot deviation.”
A pilot deviation is a term for an action taken contrary to air traffic control instructions that can result in future penalties.
CNN has reached out to Air France and American Airlines for more information.
The close call in Los Angeles comes months after a summer marked in part by high profile aviation incidents, including plane crashes, emergency landings and multiple separate close calls. Close calls in the sky can happen for a variety of reasons and with varying degrees of severity.
In June, Delta Air Lines pilots aborted their approach for landing at Boston Logan International Airport as an American Airlines flight was accelerating for takeoff on an intersecting runway.
The same month, a flight school-owned Beechcraft 76 Duchess plane came within 500 feet of a JetBlue Airways passenger jet landing at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.
In April, a Republic Airways plane landing at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport strayed into the flight path of a Jazz regional jet landing on a parallel runway.
Last year, most notably, 67 people died when an Army Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines regional jet collided over the Potomac River.
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CNN’s Pete Muntean, Alexandra Skores, Danya Gainor and Nic F. Anderson contributed to this report.
