Close call at LAX as jet slams on the brakes when two trucks cross its path

By Alexandra Skores, Aaron Cooper, CNN

Washington (CNN) — The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating why two trucks pulled in front of a Frontier Airlines Airbus A321 taxiing at Los Angeles International Airport, nearly causing a collision, according to the pilot.

Frontier Flight 3216 was preparing for takeoff from LAX at 11:25 p.m. local time on Wednesday night when the pilots were forced to suddenly stop the plane.

“We just had two trucks just cut us off. We had to slam on the brakes not to hit them,” the pilot of Frontier flight 3216 radioed the ground controller in audio from LiveATC.net.

The close call was on a taxiway near an “ATC non-visibility area” where air traffic controllers could not see the planes due to a building blocking their view.

According to the FAA, air traffic control communicates with pilots in this area, but not drivers. The vehicles on the service roads are required to give way to aircraft.

“It happened so fast both of us were just like ‘holy s**t’ and we slammed on the brakes,” the pilot said. “I’m going to have to call the flight attendants to make sure everybody is alright in the back. It was real close. Closest I’d ever seen.”

With no injuries reported, the plane took off for its scheduled flight to Atlanta.

In a statement to CNN, Frontier said it was aware of the incident.

“We thank our crew for their vigilance and professionalism,” the airline said.

While this close call was on a taxiway with the aircraft moving relatively slowly, it comes just weeks after an Air Canada Express regional jet landing at New York’s LaGuardia airport slammed into a fire truck crossing the runway, killing the two pilots and injuring dozens of others. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the cause of that incident.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.