Near miss with 5 airliners waiting for T/O on taxiway "C" in SFO!

[Airbubba]

Looks like 'the pilot' did not have the ILS tuned and displayed. This setup without the ILS would be normal for most operators on the A320 for this approach from our discussion here. Also, he went flying as scheduled the next day.

SFO close call: Air Canada pilot was not using guidance system, source says

By Matthias Gafni | [email protected] | Bay Area News Group
PUBLISHED: July 21, 2017 at 4:37 pm | UPDATED: July 24, 2017 at 4:35 am

SAN FRANCISCO — The wayward Air Canada pilot who nearly landed on a crowded SFO taxiway earlier this month did not activate his computer guidance system that would have helped guide his airplane onto the appropriate runway and not dozens of feet from a catastrophe, according to a source familiar with the federal investigation.

Preliminary findings in the joint Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board investigation have determined that the pilot — who flew for his carrier again the next day after his aborted July 7 landing — did not activate his Instrument Landing System during his visual approach, the source said. The Wall Street Journal, citing two unnamed sources familiar with the investigation, also reported Air Canada flight 759 attempted to land manually with no back-up.

In what experts have called a near-disaster, the Airbus 320 passed over two fully loaded airplanes on the taxiway, as close as 51 feet to one, according to flight data information analyzed by this newspaper, before finally climbing to abort the landing and traveling over two more aircraft. The NTSB and FAA have interviewed the Air Canada flight crew and SFO air traffic controllers.

With the clear weather that night, retired United Airlines pilot Ross Aimer said that, based on air traffic audio, the Air Canada pilot was approved for a Flight Management System (FMS) visual to Runway 28-Right, which would not require him to use his computer guidance system [the FMS visual didn't require him to use his computer guidance system? - Airbubba]. That is an angled approach that would require adjusting the guidance equipment if he chose to use it.

Aimer said most pilots don’t use the guidance equipment under those conditions and that type of approach.

Predictably, the union paints the AC 759 pilots as heroes for doing a go-around when told to do so by the tower :

Union spokesman Chris Praught said that because of the ongoing probe, he was limited in his comments, and could not comment on the pilot’s status and flight hours.

“It is a testament to the expertise and professionalism of the highly trained crew that they were able to ensure that the flight arrived safely at its destination,” he said.

SFO: Source says Air Canada pilot not using computer system

From the WSJ:

Air Canada Pilots Reportedly Didn’t Use Normal Navigation Aids in Close Call at San Francisco


Pilots of an Air Canada jet failed to use a ground-based guidance system when they nearly landed by mistake on a taxiway at San Francisco International Airport two weeks ago, potentially coming within dozens of feet of airliners on the ground, according to people familiar with the investigation.

By Andy Pasztor

Updated July 21, 2017 7:55 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON—Pilots of an Air Canada jet failed to use a ground-based guidance system when they nearly landed by mistake on a taxiway at San Francisco International Airport two weeks ago, potentially coming within dozens of feet of airliners on the ground, according to people familiar with the investigation.

As more details emerge about the incident, these people said, investigators have tentatively determined the crew didn’t utilize the available instrument landing system U.S. carriers typically require pilots to rely on for precision approaches in similar circumstances. The issue hasn’t been reported before, and it isn’t known why the crew failed to call up the instrument system for backup during the visual landing prior to breaking off the approach.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/air-can...sco-1500667932