American Airlines plane pulls up landing at Charlotte Douglas International Airport

Flight 938 from Los Angeles to Charlotte had to abort its landing when another plane occupied the runway.

An American Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Charlotte had to abort its landing on Friday afternoon at Charlotte Douglas International Airport after a small plane was still occupying the runway, per New York Times reporter and CNN on-air contributor, Lulu Garcia-Navarro.

Passengers described the incident as strange, and the American Airlines plane safely landed 20 minutes later at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport. (Representational)

“We sort of took a very steep ascent. I started praying because I was scared,” Garcia-Navarro shared on X.

American Airlines Flight 938 was descending toward CLT Airport when air traffic control instructed, “American 938, go around, aircraft still on the runway,” at approximately 1:19 p.m. The plane then ascended back into the sky, circling the area before safely touching down about 20 minutes later.

Passengers aboard Flight 938 described the experience as “weird” and “freaky” while speaking to Channel 9’s Joe Bruno. “It was pretty crazy, I think, more so seeing the reactions of everyone else,” the passenger said.

Charlotte Airport near crash averted

Data from FlightAware.com indicated that the aircraft came close to landing before pulling back up and remaining airborne for an additional 20 minutes.

“About 20 minutes of going around in circles, but I will take that over hitting another plane on the runway,” another passenger in the Charlotte bound place told Channel 9.

“I am looking out the window thinking we are about to touch down in Charlotte, and nope, pilot goes up and makes a big announcement very calm, and he’s like, ‘Yeah, the runway was supposed to be vacated, of course, but we have to make a change of plan,’” he recounted. “Sounds like a crisis was averted.”

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) later confirmed that Flight 938 had to alter its approach to avoid a runway conflict.

“American Airlines flight 938 landed safely and normally at Charlotte after air traffic control directed the flight deck crew to initiate a standard go-around. We thank our crew members for their professionalism and expertise,” the airline later stated in an official press release.