A Southwest Airlines plane was seen taxiing across the runways at San Francisco International Airport last week, causing two incoming planes to abort their landings. An inbound United Airlines flight and an Alaskan Airlines plane both pulled back into the sky after seeing the Southwest jet. The incident was referred to as a “runway incursion” and the FAA determined that appropriate steps had been taken to ensure safe operations. Similar close calls have been investigated by transportation safety officials in recent years, with the FAA investing $100m in improvements at 12 airports to reduce these occurrences. This incident, however, will not be investigated and Southwest spokesperson Chris Perry said, “if there was anything amiss on this one, we’ll work with the FAA on next steps”.
Last week, an Air Canada jet nearly landed on top of four other planes that were waiting to take off. The incident occurred in 2017 at San Francisco International Airport when the pilots mistakenly believed a taxiway was their runway. The planes were missed by just 14 feet. The National Transport Safety Board is not investigating the recent near-miss at the same airport, however, the FAA is investing in improvements at 12 airports to reduce runway incursions.
The incident comes as transportation safety officials are investigating numerous close calls in recent years.
With Post wires