Plan B Forum

Air Canada plane avoids disaster in San Francisco

An Air Canada plane narrowly averted disaster after it almost landed on a taxiway with four other planes on it in San Francisco Friday night.

Air Canada flight AC759 from Toronto was cleared to land on runway 28R just before midnight, a statement from the Federal Aviation Administration said.

"However, the pilot inadvertently lined up for Taxiway C, which runs parallel to the runway," the statement said. "An air traffic controller sent the Air Canada jet around."

In an audio recording of the conversations between air traffic control and pilots available from Live ATC, the Air Canada pilot tells air traffic control he sees other lights on the runway before being told there are no other planes on 28R.

"You can begin to see there is uncertainty in the Air Canada crew's mind about what's going on," said former commercial pilot and aviation investigator John Cox, referencing the recording of communications.

Cox added that proven technologies have long been in place to prevent runway collisions.

"There are electronic devices that send radio signals up to the airplane for vertical and lateral alignment. And why those were not being followed is going to be a central question the investigators will look at," he said.

In the recording, a United Airlines pilot is heard saying "United One, Air Canada just flew directly over us."

Another voice is heard saying, "Where's this guy going? He's on the taxiway."

When air traffic control realizes the plane is headed for the taxiway, it is directed to go around and approach again. It landed without incident on the second attempt.

In an interview with the San Jose Mercury News, a former pilot said the plane avoided what could have been a "horrific" collision.

"If it is true, what happened probably came close to the greatest aviation disaster in history," said retired United Airlines Capt. Ross Aimer, CEO of Aero Consulting Experts.

"If you could imagine an Airbus colliding with four passenger aircraft wide bodies, full of fuel and passengers, then you can imagine how horrific this could have been," he said.

The FAA is investigating how close the Air Canada plane came to the four planes on the taxiway, adding that this type of incident is "very rare."

Cox echoed that near-hits during takeoffs and landings are rare, but was quick to identify certain design elements of the San Francisco airport that may have exacerbated the troubled approach.

He flew into the same airport "many, many times" as a pilot and said it requires "precision flying."

For example, the two adjacent runways are the closest of any pair used by commercial aircraft in the world, only about 229 metres between them.

Similarly, fewer than 150 metres separates the runway 28R from the taxiway.

But Cox still questions how the Air Canada crew may have confused the two strips of tarmac. At the San Francisco airport, runways are illuminated by clear or amber-hued lights while the taxiway is lined with blue lights.

"Everybody here did a good job" in averting a potential catastrophe, Cox said. "Now we just need to know why the Air Canada crew thought the taxiway was the runway to land on.

In a statement, an Air Canada spokesperson said the airline is also investigating.

"Air Canada flight AC759 from Toronto was preparing to land at San Francisco airport Friday night when the aircraft initiated a go-around," Peter Fitzpatrick said in the emailed statement.

"The aircraft landed normally without incident. We are still investigating the circumstances and therefore have no additional information to offer."

Guinevere wrote:There is so much more to this than just the tower screwing up. I have on my desk right now (actually it's in my briefcase for a meeting I'm heading to now) the new FAA order *reducing* separation between planes on parallel landing tracks at many major airports, including Boston and San Francisco. Note that the separation for San Francisco is even smaller than for the other airports.

More later.

When air traffic control realizes the plane is headed for the taxiway, it is directed to go around and approach again. It landed without incident on the second attempt.......

.....In a statement, an Air Canada spokesperson said the airline is also investigating.

"Air Canada flight AC759 from Toronto was preparing to land at San Francisco airport Friday night when the aircraft initiated a go-around," Peter Fitzpatrick said in the emailed statement

New data, photos show how close Air Canada jet came to crashing at San Francisco airport



Newly released data and photos show how shockingly low an Air Canada jet was when it pulled up to avoid crashing into planes waiting on a San Francisco International Airport taxiway last month.

The Air Canada pilots mistook the taxiway for the runway next to it and flew their jet to just 59 feet (18 metres) above ground before pulling up to attempt another landing, according to National Transportation Safety Board information released Wednesday.

That’s barely taller than the four planes that were on the taxiway when the incident occurred late at night on July 7.

Pilots in a United Airlines plane alerted air traffic controllers about the off-course jet, while the crew of a Philippine Airlines jet behind it switched on their plane’s landing lights in an apparent last-ditch danger signal to Air Canada.

NTSB investigators said they have not determined probable cause for the incident that came within a few feet of becoming one of the worst disasters in aviation history.

“It was close, much too close,” said John Cox, a safety consultant and retired airline pilot.

The investigators said that as the Air Canada jet approached the taxiway just before midnight after a flight from Toronto, it was so far off course that it did not appear on a radar system used to prevent runway collisions.

Those systems were not designed to spot planes that are lined up to land on a taxiway — a rare occurrence, especially for airline pilots. But the Federal Aviation Administration is working on modifications so they can, agency spokesman Ian Gregor said.

Both pilots of the Air Canada Airbus A320 jet were very experienced. The captain, who was flying the plane, had more than 20,000 hours of flying time, and the co-pilot had about 10,000 hours.

The pilots told investigators “that they did not recall seeing aircraft on taxiway but that something did not look right to them,” the NTSB said.

Investigators could not hear what the Air Canada captain and co-pilot said to each other during the aborted landing because their conversation was recorded over when the plane made other flights, starting with a San Francisco-to-Montreal trip the next morning. Recorders are required to capture only the last two hours of a plane’s flying time. (I imagine it was something like, "Holy shit, pull the fuck up!)

Peter Fitzpatrick, a spokesman for Air Canada, declined to comment, citing the ongoing investigation.

Air Canada close call at San Francisco airport was feet from being ‘worst aviation accident in history’: safety officials

Safety officials say a near collision of airliners in San Francisco last year was a few feet from becoming the worst crash in aviation history and underscores the need for faster reporting of dangerous incidents before evidence is lost.

The National Transportation Safety Board issued a final report Thursday on the incident in which an Air Canada jet nearly crashed into planes lined up on the ground at San Francisco International Airport.

The pilots were slow to report the incident to superiors. By the time they did, the plane had made another flight and the cockpit voice recording of the close call was recorded over. (answers a question someone asked earlier)

The NTSB says the recording could have helped investigators understand why the Air Canada pilots missed the runway and were about to land on a taxiway where four other planes were idling before they aborted their landing.

The Air Canada jet swooped to just 60 feet above the ground while passing over other planes packed with passengers waiting to take off shortly before midnight on July 7, 2017.

“Only a few feet of separation prevented this from possibly becoming the worst aviation accident in history,” NTSB vice-chairman Bruce Landsberg said in a statement accompanying the report.

Another board member, Earl Weener, said the Air Canada plane came within feet of hitting another plane and colliding with several others.

“Over 1,000 people were at imminent risk of serious injury or death,” he said.

The deadliest aviation accident occurred in 1977, when two Boeing 747 jets collided on a runway in Tenerife on the Canary Islands, leaving 583 people dead.

The Air Canada captain, identified in NTSB documents as Dimitrios Kisses, was supposed to report the San Francisco incident to the airline as soon as possible but didn’t because he was “very tired” and it was late. He waited until the next day. By that time, the plane was used for another flight, and the audio loop on the cockpit voice recorder was taped over.

The NTSB did not allege that Kisses and co-pilot Matthew Dampier deliberately delayed reporting the incident, but it did say that investigators could have gained a better understanding of what the crew was doing before the close call.

The NTSB is considering recommending that cockpit recorders capture the last 25 hours of flying time, up from two hours under current rules.

Board member Weener also criticized the airline industry’s reliance on self-reporting of safety issues, saying the industry and the Federal Aviation Administration should consider stronger measures to intervene after a dangerous situation.

Weener noted that other pilots were alert enough to turn on lights to warn the off-course Air Canada jet. Yet once the danger passed, he said, they took no action to prompt “an intervention and evaluation of the Air Canada crew.”

The five-member board determined last month that the incident was caused by the Air Canada pilots being confused because one of two parallel runways was closed that night. The closure was noted in a briefing to the pilots, and nine other planes had made routine landings after the runway was shut down.

The safety board also criticized the FAA for having just one controller on duty at the time of the incident, and recommended better lighting to tell pilots when a runway is closed at night.

“It is noteworthy that the NTSB’s recommendations were not directed at Air Canada specifically and address many areas for improvement,” said Air Canada spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick.

Air Canada told the NTSB it has taken steps to increase safety since the event, including emphasizing proper procedures for landing approaches and specific training to familiarize pilots with the San Francisco airport.

The NTSB recommended development of technology to better warn pilots and air traffic controllers when a plane appears to be off-course for a runway.