16 thoughts on “That SFO Near-Disaster”

1. Maybe taxiways shouldn’t be straight. Different lighting has mostly worked fine so far, but a pilot on approach seeing only one straight stretch flanked by slight doglegs or zigzags magnified by perspective ought to have no trouble telling which is the runway.

   1. Except that taxiways at many airports can be used as emergency runways. Making them curved would defeat that purpose. The article is a great example of sensationalized reporting trying to make much ado about nothing. Yes, IF the pilot did actually land on the taxiway, this COULD have been the worst aviation accident in history. However, the pilot had already visually identified traffic on the “runway” and correctly queried the tower, who subsequently sent him around. Even if the tower had failed to take that action, the odds of the pilot continuing to landing on a clear night is remote given the hazards in the landing zone. There were multiple safeguards and they worked. But “Crew recognizes mistake and is sent around by Tower. No danger to public” doesn’t sell nearly as well as a headline.

      Don’t forget that Tenerife involved foggy conditions and an aircraft actually on the active runway. Weather, interestingly enough, would have prevented this incident because the pilot would have been flying an instrument approach, not the visual one he was on.

      There will be multiple lessons learned for flight ops from this no doubt. But don’t make more of it than it is. My two cents worth from many years of flight ops perspective.

      1. Cheers.          

2. One more reason not to fly AirCanada….aside from the lousy cabin service.

   Now, how will CNN spin this as being the fault of Trump/CNN?

   1. You don’t need to fly AirCanada as it’ll still ruin your day when one lands on you 😉

   2. This is why we can’t let Trump privatize air traffic controllers.

      1. ?? Are you attempting humor here?

      2. At least a private controller who caused such a cluster (as opposed to the AC flight crew) would get fired.

3. Note a round runway would solve this! You would not confuse the inner taxiway with the runway. It eliminates the taxiway as an emergency runway, but that seems a good thing.

   1. One word: tailhook.

      I’d love to see how a 737 stood up to those stresses!

      1. I can tell ya. …in two halves. A 737 and larger are not designed for anywhere near that kind of stress.

4. How about painting the edges of the taxiways in yellow or orange?

   1. The lights along taxiways are blue. The lights along runways are white. That works for night. In the daytime, runways have distinctive markings that aren’t on taxiways. Telling them apart shouldn’t be that difficult to anyone who is paying attention (I’m looking at you, Harrison Ford).

5. Harrison Ford is a pilot for Air Canada?

   Agree with Steve A above; safeguards worked. Not sure why the pilot initially lined up on taxiway, but I suspect the row of lights from the waiting aircraft might have been part of the confusion.

   1. Harrison Ford is a pilot for Air Canada?

      Beat me to it.

      1. Indiana Jones and Vinnie BA-BA-BA BA-Barbarino were lined up to land on the same runway. Who wins?

         Gravity.

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