Near-miss at SFO this morning

[jimntx]

Air Canada flight almost landed on an SFO taxiway occupied by 4 fully loaded airplanes waiting to take off. Flew as low as 175 feet before pulling up and away. Scary!

One commentator said it could have been the worst aviation disaster ever.

http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/07/...ght-got-extremely-close-to-planes-on-taxiway/

 

[xUT]

ATC cleared to land 28R, 28R had lights off.
WTF?

 

[FWAAA]

ATC cleared to land 28R, 28R had lights off.
WTF?

No, no. 28L was closed and had the lights off (not 28R - they were cleared to land 28R). Air Canada lined up with Taxiway C and the UA 787 pilots saw the landing lights in their eyes. The Air Canada pilots wondered why their "runway" had planes on it.

 

[xUT]

No, no. 28L was closed and had the lights off (not 28R - they were cleared to land 28R). Air Canada lined up with Taxiway C and the UA 787 pilots saw the landing lights in their eyes. The Air Canada pilots wondered why their "runway" had planes on it.

I stand corrected.
Oops on my part.

 

[FWAAA]

I stand corrected.
Oops on my part.

No worries!

One theory I read was that since 28L was closed and dark, the pilots saw 28R as 28L and thus saw Taxiway C as 28R. Still doesn't account for all those blue edge and green centerline lights - which never illuminate runways. It was late in the evening, they had flown in from Toronto, and I'm betting that fatigue had a lot to do with it.

 

[BlueEyesSkies]

Thankful that they were able to divert the situation or this could have, indeed, been another disaster.