American Airlines plane narrowly avoids crashing into the Hawaiian mountain range

An American Airlines plane nearly crashed into a mountain range in Hawaii — but escaped tragedy when it was ordered to quickly gain altitude, officials said Friday.

Flight 298 to Los Angeles had just taken off from Honolulu at 12:30 a.m. Wednesday, when the air traffic controller ordered the crew to “accelerate your climb” — meaning climb quickly to avoid danger, according to audio broadcast from the website LiveATC.

“Number 298 turn right, accelerate your climb through terrain and then turn right,” said the traffic controller, according to audio cited by hawaiinewsnow.com.

The dramatic increase in altitude — which came after the pilot failed to make a turn after takeoff — likely prevented the plane from slamming into the Koʻolau mountain range on the island of Oʻahu, according to officials.

The rapid altitude gain came after the crew “failed to make the assigned turn while departing from Honolulu International Airport,” an FAA official told NBC News.

An American Airlines statement said “the crew of American Airlines flight 298 requested and received clearance for a right turn and complied with the air traffic controller’s instructions.”

“There were no terrain clearance issues based on the aircraft’s trajectory,” the airline said.