NTSB releases footage of Air Canada near-collision

In the beginning of July 2017, an Air Canada plane had a near-miss incident at San Francisco airport, when it started landing at the wrong pathway, where four other airplanes were queuing for take-off. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released among other documents the chilling footage showing how close the plane was from a tragedy.

The incident, which occurred on July 7, 2017, at San Francisco International Airport (SFO), involved an Air Canada Airbus A320 almost colliding with four airplanes queuing for takeoff, when the plane started landing on a taxiway instead of a runway.

Air Canada flight 759 was cleared to land on runway 28R at San Francisco International Airport, but the airplane lined up on parallel taxiway C, which had four airplanes on it awaiting takeoff clearance. Air Canada flight 759 descended below 100 feet above the ground and initiated a go-around after overflying the first airplane on taxiway C.

A document released by the NTSB states that the lowest point at which the plane descended was 60 feet. If both Air Canada 759 and the Philippine Airlines A340 on the taxiway were aligned, they were a mere foot away from colliding.

During the incident, the captain was the pilot flying ACA759, and the first officer was the pilot monitoring. Both pilots said, in post-incident interviews, they believed the lighted runway on their left was 28L and that they were lined up for 28R. They also stated that they did not recall seeing aircraft on taxiway C but that something did not look right to them.

Runway 28L was closed to accommodate construction; its approach and runway lights were turned off, and a 20.5-ft-wide lighted flashing X (runway closure marker) was placed at the threshold.

Later the same year, on October 22, 2017, another mishap involving Air Canada and San Francisco Airport’s ATC turned into a second dangerous near-miss.

Source – AeroTime News Hub