Canada A320 at San Francisco on Oct 22nd 2017, landed despite go around instructions
Last Update: October 26, 2017 / 19:06:17 GMT/Zulu time
Incident Facts
Date of incident
Oct 22, 2017
Classification
Incident
Airline
Air Canada
Flight number
AC-781
Departure
Montreal, Canada
Destination
San Francisco, United States
Aircraft Registration
C-GPWG
Aircraft Type
Airbus A320
ICAO Type Designator
A320
Airport ICAO Code
KSFO
Another aircraft was trailing the Air Canada A320 for landing on runway 28R.
Tower just wanted to instruct the previous landing to roll down to taxiway D when he saw the aircraft had already joined taxiway T. The controller therefore instructed the aircraft to hold short of runway 28L on taxiway T.
As result tower instructed "Air Canada seven eighty one, go around", silence for 2 seconds, tower repeated ""Air Canada seven eighty one, go around", again silence. In total the tower transmitted 5 instructions "Air Canada seven eighty one, go around", however did not receive any response, the aircraft continued the landing. After landing tower called Air Canada three times, after the third call the crew answered stating they had problems with the radio, the tower commented "that's pretty evident", then issued taxi instructions requesting the aircraft to taxi as close as they could up to the preceding aircraft at the crossing point taxiway T runway 28L.
The third aircraft on final for runway 28R was able to land without need for a go around. The next approach for runway 28L was reassigned runway 28R enabling the controller to clear the three waiting landed aircraft to cross runway 28L.
The FAA later reported that tower cleared the Air Canada A320 to land when it was about 6nm out, but once he recognized that the runway might not be clear he instructed the A320 to go around for six times. When the aircraft did not respond tower also used the light gun showing red to alert the crew to go around, however, the aircraft continued to land. The runway happened to be clear by the time the A320 touched down. The crew subsequently told tower they had a radio problem. The FAA have opened an investigation into the occurrence.
The airline reported tower attempted unsuccessfully to contact the crew, however the message was not received by the crew.
On Oct 26th 2017 the Canadian TSB reported: "After having received the proper clearance to land on Runway 28R at KSFO, the flight crew continued their approach and landed uneventfully. Following the landing and after the flight was handed over to ground control, ATC requested that the flight crew contact them by phone once the flight was secure. Subsequently, the flight crew was informed that the tower had unsuccessfully attempted to contact them while on final approach. The flight crew advised that they had not heard any calls after receiving their clearance to land. The operator is investigating the incident."
Metars:
KSFO 230556Z 00000KT 10SM CLR 17/11 A3027 RMK AO2 SLP251 T01670106 10211 20161 51006=
KSFO 230456Z 00000KT 10SM CLR 17/11 A3027 RMK AO2 SLP250 T01720106=
KSFO 230356Z 27007KT 10SM CLR 18/11 A3026 RMK AO2 SLP246 T01780106=
KSFO 230156Z 28013KT 10SM CLR 18/11 A3025 RMK AO2 SLP243 T01780106=
KSFO 230056Z 27012KT 10SM CLR 19/11 A3025 RMK AO2 SLP244 T01890111=
Aircraft Registration Data
Aircraft registration data reproduced and distributed with the permission of the Government of Canada.
Incident Facts
Date of incident
Oct 22, 2017
Classification
Incident
Airline
Air Canada
Flight number
AC-781
Departure
Montreal, Canada
Destination
San Francisco, United States
Aircraft Registration
C-GPWG
Aircraft Type
Airbus A320
ICAO Type Designator
A320
Airport ICAO Code
KSFO
This article is published under license from Avherald.com. © of text by Avherald.com.
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