FAA probes second Air Canada landing flub at San Francisco International
An Air Canada flight missed a crucial landing instruction — delivered multiple times — as it touched down at San Francisco International Airport on Sunday night.
The incident triggered yet another Federal Aviation Administration investigation into the airline, months after the airline just missed a major crash there.
Air Canada Flight 781 from Montreal was six miles away from SFO when air traffic control cleared its landing. “The Air Canada crew acknowledged the instruction,” said FAA spokesman Ian Gregor. The plane was supposed to land on Runway 28R.
However, the tower controller was not sure that the runway would be completely clear by the time Flight 781 hit the ground, so he told the crew — repeatedly — to execute a “go-around,” a strategy pilots use to buy time on landings by circling the airport.
“Air Canada 781 go-around,” an air traffic controller said six times, according to a radio recording posted by the San Jose Mercury News.
According to Gregor, the instruction was given “repeatedly,” but the crew didn’t acknowledge the order. So a traffic supervisor used a red light gun — which Gregor called “standard protocol” for an unresponsive aircraft — to make sure the crew got the message. The crew did not circle the airport — it simply landed on the original runway.
Luckily for the plane, the runway was clear of traffic by the time it touched down at 9:26 p.m. After landing, the crew told the tower they had a radio problem.
Air Canada is investigating the incident, airline spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick said. “Upon landing the crew was informed the tower had attempted unsuccessfully to contact the aircraft, however the message was not received by the crew,” Fitzpatrick wrote in an email.
This weekend’s incident comes not long after an Air Canada flight on the same runway came within 100 feet of smashing into two planes waiting to leave.
In July, the pilot flying Air Canada Flight 759 from Toronto to San Francisco lined the plane up with a taxiway that ran parallel to runway 28R. According to the FAA, four full planes were lined up and awaiting approval to take off.
Canada’s Transportation Safety Board said in a preliminary report that the flight flew over the taxiway for a quarter-mile. Pilots told investigators “they did not recall seeing aircraft” on the taxiway but “something did not look right to them,” a National Transportation Safety Board report stated.
One of the planes queued up on the taxiway turned on its lights as the crew saw the Air Canada jet draw near.
Air traffic control helped stem the collision by ordering the pilot to abort the landing and circle the airport. “Where is this guy going?” an unknown voice said on the air traffic control recording that day. “He’s on the taxiway!”
“Air Canada, go around,” traffic control said.
The Air Canada plane then successfully landed, about 50 minutes later than scheduled.
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