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Air Canada Flight Ignores Go-Around Calls at SFO

For the second time this year, Air Canada pilots raised concerns while attempting to land at San Francisco International Airport. Wikimedia Commons
Gemini Sparkle

Key Takeaways:

  • An Air Canada flight at SFO landed despite repeated go-around commands from air traffic control due to insufficient runway separation, with the crew later claiming radio problems.
  • Controllers issued multiple radio warnings and a light-gun signal over 35 seconds, but the aircraft continued its landing.
  • This incident marks the second for Air Canada at SFO in just a few months, following a July event where another flight nearly landed on a crowded taxiway instead of the runway.
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The FAA and Air Canada are investigating why the two pilots aboard an Air Canada flight ignored repeated calls from controllers at San Francisco tower to go around due to insufficient runway separation from another arrival. The incident occurred last Sunday night after the Air Canada Airbus A320 had previously been cleared to land on Runway 28 Right from a point on a six-mile final. Landing clearance is often based on separations controllers believe will exist when the next arrival crosses the landing threshold. But sometime things change and in this case the tower controller later believed that separation would not exist, hence the go-around call. Unfortunately, the Air Canada flight did not respond to any radio calls during the last six miles of flight.

Rob Mark

Rob Mark is an award-winning journalist, business jet pilot, flight instructor, and blogger.

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