Air Canada in near miss at San Francisco airport
Air Canada Airbus 320, flight AC759 carrying 135 passengers and five crew members, from Toronto was preparing to land at San Francisco airport cleared to land on a runway last Friday, 7th July , 2017, but the pilot inadvertently lined up for a taxiway where four aircraft was waiting to take off.
The agile air traffic controller became aware of the problem and ordered the Pilot to take evasive action and pull up, so that he can make another approach.
The Airbus landed safely.
The FAA is currently investigating the distance between the Air Canada Aircraft and the aircraft lined up on the taxiway, which runs parallel to the runaway.
The audio recording has emerged of what are said to be the communications between the Air Canada pilot and air traffic controllers. The pilot is heard saying that there are lights on the runway. One of the air traffic controllers replies that there are no other planes there.
Another voice unidentified is then heard saying “ where’s this guy going? He’s on the Taxiway.”
What probably happened is that the incident came close to the greatest aviation disaster in history.