Another Airliner Was Waiting For Takeoff Clearance, Landing Aborted

The FAA is investigating another incident in which an airliner lined up to land on the wrong runway at San Francisco International Airport (KSFO) where a Virgin America plane was lined up and cleared for takeoff.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the plane was on a one-mile final approach when controllers noticed it was lined up to land on the occupied runway. They warned the pilot, who aborted the landing and went around.

The Aeromexico flight had been cleared to land on Runway 28R Tuesday morning at about 11:45 local time, according to FAA spokesman Ian Gregor. But despite reading back the clearance, they lined up to land on Runway 28L.

There were two similar incidents at KSFO last year, according to the report. In July, an Air Canada airplane nearly collided with two other aircraft waiting to take off when it lined up on a taxiway, avoiding the collision by about 100 feet. In October, another Air Canada flight actually touched down on the wrong runway, but no other aircraft were involved.

(Image from file)

FMI: Original report