CNN
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The Federal Aviation Administration says an air traffic controller’s instructions prevented an American Airlines flight from reaching the mountains near Honolulu International Airport in Hawaii.

The agency is investigating the incident on American Flight 298 shortly after takeoff en route to Los Angeles early Wednesday morning. Open source flight tracking data from ADS-B Exchange shows the flight took off from Honolulu’s runway 8. Left pointed east toward the Ko’olau Mountains.

“An air traffic controller instructed American Airlines Flight 298 to perform an accelerated climb after the crew failed to make the assigned turn upon departure from Honolulu International Airport,” the FAA said. “The controller’s actions kept the aircraft safely over nearby terrain.”

Audio from LiveATC.net shows the Honolulu air traffic controller telling US 298 to “accelerate your climb… through terrain” and turn right.

In a statement, American Airlines said: “During the climb out of Honolulu on November 13, the crew of American Airlines Flight 298 requested and received permission to turn right and complied with the controller’s instructions” and pointed out that “there were no Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning was. System warning (EGPWS), because there were no problems with the terrain clearance based on the trajectory of the aircraft.”

The EGPWS is activated when an aircraft is at risk of colliding with terrain.

Flight data shows that by the time the flight reached the terrain, it was at least 1,500 feet above the mountain peaks.