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US-CANADA-AVIATION
Air Canada’s near miss last year was almost ‘worst accident in history’
WASHINGTON, Oct 13, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – A near miss involving an Air Canada
plane which almost landed on a crowded taxiway instead of a runway at San
Francisco airport last year could have been the “worst aviation accident in
history,” according to an official report.
The Air Canada Airbus A320 carrying 140 people was cleared to land on
Runway 28-Right at San Francisco International Airport shortly before
midnight on July 7, 2017 — but the pilot inadvertently lined up for Taxiway
C, where four planes were waiting to take off.
“Only a few feet of separation prevented this from possibly becoming the
worst aviation accident in history,” said Bruce Landsberg, vice chairman of
the National Transportation Safety Board while announcing the agency’s report
issued Friday.
“The incident airplane descended to an altitude of 100 ft (30 meters) above
ground level and overflew the first airplane on the taxiway,” the report
said.
“The incident flight crew initiated a go-around, and the airplane reached a
minimum altitude of about 60 ft and overflew the second airplane on the
taxiway before starting to climb,” it added, noting none of the five flight
crewmembers or 135 passengers aboard the Air Canada plane were injured.
The report said the flight crew’s misidentification of the taxiway as the
intended runway “resulted from the crewmembers’ lack of awareness of the
parallel runway closure due to their ineffective review of notice to airmen
(NOTAM) information before the flight and during the approach briefing.”
Other contributing factors were “the flight crew’s failure to tune the
instrument landing system frequency for backup lateral guidance, expectation
bias, fatigue due to circadian disruption and length of continued
wakefulness, and breakdowns in crew resource management.”
An audio recording of the radio exchanges between air traffic control and
the pilot of Air Canada flight 759 was posted online shortly after the
incident.
Just moments after receiving permission to land on the designated runway,
the Air Canada pilot returned to the radio sensing that something was amiss.
“Uh, Tower, I just want to confirm — this is Air Canada 759 — we see some
lights on the runway there, across the runway, can you confirm we’re clear to
land?”
The tower responded: “Air Canada 759 confirmed clear to land Runway 28-
Right. There is no one on 28-Right but you.”
“OK, Air Canada 759,” the pilot replied.
An unidentified man’s voice then broke in — presumably a pilot in one of
the aircraft waiting to take off. “Where’s this guy going? He’s on the
taxiway,” he said.
Air traffic control immediately told the Air Canada pilot not to land.
“Air Canada go around,” the tower said.
“In the go-around, Air Canada 759,” the pilot responded.
The pilot of a United Airlines plane on the ground told the tower meanwhile
that “Air Canada flew directly over us.”
“Yeah, I saw that guys,” the tower replied.
BSS/AFP/MSY/1418 hrs