The terrifying moment an Air Canada jet nearly landed on four other passenger planes on Friday has been captured in audio.
Pilots and the control tower at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) can be heard remarking in astonishment as the AC759 narrowly misses them on the packed taxiway.
The dramatic moment – which could have claimed more than a thousand lives – was very nearly a history-making catastrophe.
“If it is true, what happened probably came close to the greatest aviation disaster in history,” retired United Airlines Capt. Ross Aimer, CEO of Aero Consulting Experts told The Mercury News.
Typically, incoming international planes are directed to one of two runways: 28L or 28R, referred to verbally as ’28-Left’ or ’28-Right’.
In the audio, the Air Canada pilot can be heard asking SFO control if he’s heading towards the right runway.
“Tower control, I just want to confirm that – this is Air Canada 759, I can see some lights on the runway there, across the runway, can you confirm we’re good to land?”
“Canada 759, confirmed to land on runway 28-Right, there is no one on 28-Right but you.”
But what the tower doesn’t know is that the pilot isn’t lined up for runway 28R at all.
Instead, he’s heading for Taxiway C, which lies parallel directly next to it, and on which four passenger planes were waiting to get into position for takeoff.
The model of those planes is unclear, but they could have had between 200 and 480 passengers each, if at full capacity.
As the Air Canada jet thanks airport control, another pilot, audibly agitated buzzes in: “Where is this guy going? He’s on the Taxiway!”
Tower quickly tells the plane to “go around” and it peels off, narrowly avoiding a massive collision.
“Air Canada flew directly over us,” another pilot says.
“Yeah, I saw that guys,” replies the tower.
Captain Aimer said that if the tower hadn’t been able to swiftly redirect the Air Canada plane, disaster would have followed.
“If you could imagine an Airbus colliding with four passenger aircraft wide bodies, full of fuel and passengers, then you can imagine how horrific this could have been,” he remarked.
It’s not yet known what types of planes were on the taxiway, but “wide body” planes are the large, two-aisle planes capable of transporting hundreds of people internationally.
Wide bodies can between 200 and 480 passengers, plus crew.
Even if the other planes were at the lower end of the scale, and only half full, a collision could well have killed several hundred people.
Aimer added that the incident had become the talk of pilots everywhere.
“This is pretty huge,” he said. “My buddies called and asked if I knew about it. They’re a sitting duck on the taxiway. They can’t go anywhere.”
In a statement, Air Canada said in part: “We are still investigating the circumstances and therefore have no additional information to offer.”
It did not confirm whether any action has been taken against the pilot.
San Francisco International Airport has also been contacted.
The FAA have launched an investigation, as has Air Canada.
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