America's Worst Air Disaster? 11 Seconds to Survive (Real Video & Audio)

[@theflightchannel]

Go to sponsr.is/cs_theflightchannel and use code FLIGHT to save 25% off today. Thanks to Curiosity Stream for sponsoring today’s video.

[@robloxian1014]

@@suny1265Don’t make it a big deal! He rarely gets his sponsored, and he actually seems to like this service! Just skip it if you don’t want to watch it!

[@ClintHelton]

​@@robloxian1014I know, right? I fast-fwded it without a thought.

[@Mypersonalxboxtestin]

Well done for getting a sponsor. I have absolutely no issue with it.

[@pork_friedrice]

Well done sir

[@Michael-ff8bl]

🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

[@anthroposmetron4475]

I think the video is putting it mildly on the fatigue point. According to Wikipedia, the captain had no significant rest leading up to this for nineteen hours. If you get up at 7 in the morning, then imagine working the whole day and then trying to land a plane at two in the morning the next day. There is no way that Air Canada should have been allowing this.

[@MarissaNye]

Exactly! It’s completely the fault of Air Canada and Canada itself since it runs the airline. How they thought calling the pilot in to fly that flight is mind boggling. You can literally hear the exhaustion in his voice. Many people don’t realize how easy it is to mess up even routine things when you are that tired. And not to mention SF is a hard airport on a good day to into as well.

[@CMDRFandragon]

Companies dont care if your tired lol....they will demand you work even without hours, even without sleep. IN the case of a pilot, who cares if you need to fly hours across a country to catch the flight your flying.....dont be late. However, if fatigue is a result of an accident, well, then its obviously the pilot didnt manage his time well and get any sleep.... I had a simple Railroad Taxi job where they would write you up for not taking trips with hours to drive, and would get pissy with you if you didnt take trips. They didnt care if you just got done waiting for your crew for 3 hours, driving for 6 hours and are now at home in bed trying to sleep. They will call you with another trip, this time to Port Huron to do the same thing and if you dont, well that just might be a write up. They will call you randomly during your rest period so you wouldnt get any uninteruppted sleep but get surprised pikachu face when your driving wild all over the road cuz you havent had more than 4 hours of broken sleep in 3 years...... I even once had a night where i was effectively awake for 30 straight hours. How I survived it, idk. In the end, the last trip of the day, the crew that I was supposed to drive was like, no, we'll go get a different driver. I was so tired, even the crew pounding on the van window didnt wake me up....

[@MarissaNye]

@@CMDRFandragon yes very true. Air Canada is a government owned airline not a private corporation which makes it even worse in my opinion. Pilots will always be scapegoated and I don’t think they came down hard enough on the airline at all.

[@Blueforme]

It’s done everyday.

[@S4RG3N7]

It’s funny you mention Wikipedia, this is word for word where a majority, or if not all, the flight channels dialogue comes from.

[@raquellofstedt9713]

Shout out to the crew on that second plane for flashing on all their lights! I suspect everyone, including the crew in the plane in the air, was in total disbelief.

[@mako88sb]

Yes. Imagine the passengers of those planes sitting on the runway suddenly hearing another plane in go around mode obviously passing above you. Yikes!

[@uglybetty8747]

Exactly great presence of mind

[@christianmayuga3866]

it's Philippine Airlines Flight 115😊

[@t.p.mckenna]

Well done the Philippines crew for being on the ball. The United guy took laconic to another dimension altogether.

[@scottyjohnson3120]

I wonder if the Air Canada pilots got in any trouble for that?

[@privatepilot4064]

Wow! I’ll bet he had to “call the tower” after landing! The real hero in this whole fiasco was the pilot who was on the ball and flipped on the landing lights of his aircraft! He saved a lot of lives when he did that and should be recognized. A good adage to remember when flying is “If it doesn’t look right, it probably isn’t”.

[@uglybetty8747]

Exactly !

[@MrCrystalcranium]

There were no flashing approach lights, no PAPA lights visible...the pilots were on autopilot!

[@momzilla9491]

Very scary close call. Amazing how the Pilots on the Taxiway and Air Traffic Control where not shouting at the top of their lungs.

[@6x.justin]

did the pilots get fired?

[@marcdraco2189]

That would have made Tenerife look like someone scratched the paint when they came into land.

[@sarahalbers5555]

@@marcdraco2189 true that.

[@jamesm3471]

@@marcdraco2189typically 583 people don’t die when you just scratch the paint, but I get what you’re saying

[@marcdraco2189]

@@jamesm3471 JAL123 would disagree - a small part of what I do is write absurdist comedy. (JAL 123 [1985, total loss] is on this channel but you'd have to go back a fair few uploads to find it.)

[@johnpuruntong884]

Kudos to the crew of Philippine Airlines for turning their lights on! That's presence of mind right there! PAL has some of the best pilots in the industry!

[@GenesisSols]

Eh

[@hannahp1108]

The potential consequences of this are just unthinkable. Absolutely unthinkable.

[@theflightchannel]

True!!

[@crjsim]

Absolutely unthinkable, there is no way they could have rescue all those passengers in time!

[@AEMoreira81]

If the plane had waited 5 more seconds to pull up, he might have taken out the stabilizer of PAL 115 and then plowed into UA863 and UA1118 behind them.

[@hannahp1108]

@@AEMoreira81 and since all 4 planes are full loaded with fuel, it's likely explosions would've caused all four planes on the ground to suffer fire

[@flyguyry1]

I thought about it

[@WizzardTelevision]

This has got to be the most pucker intensive close call in the entire history of aviation.

[@etiennedauphin]

I had heard of it, but never knew how close it came to a major catastrophe. Thank you for these excellent videos.

[@6x.justin]

did the pilots get fired?

[@marcdraco2189]

@@6x.justin Doesn't look like it.

[@theflightchannel]

Glad you found the video interesting :)

[@paulymac5513]

What a relief. I thought I was going to see a crash. I wish all these videos were near misses instead of crashes. Normally I would think those pilots should be fired but the clarity of the closer was at some fault also.

[@olaflieser3812]

@@paulymac5513 Punishment may or may not have happened - but that is never the primary point with aviation. Instead, learn, detect a possibly faulty process and improve it. As was the case here: Essentially making use of the ILS mandatory in case of single runway operation, i.e. requiring us of the localizer, the nav aid lining you up properly with the runway. That is the proper course of action. Punishment of the pilots is a matter for the airline and/or Canadian authorities. Arguably these two pilots have learned their lesson and are very unlikely doing that again, ever.

[@tsepheletseka5115]

Wow. I have about this incident a lot of times but I never knew the Air Canada plane came so close to the aircraft on the ground. That would have surpassed the Tenerife disaster by miles as the deadliest aviation accident of all time. Thank god for both the Philippine pilots who flashed their landing lights and the United pilot who spoke up. They both saved a lot of lives that night and averted a catastrophe.

[@dx1450]

The tower probably should have told them to go around a lot sooner than he did, but probably took a few seconds to realize that they were trying to land on the taxiway.

[@suspense_comix3237]

I remember this incident, I was on the UA Flight 1, heading to Singapore. I went on UA 1 to go to Singapore, to then switch planes to fly to Hong Kong. Anyways, I was right in front of the overwing emergency exit seats, so I could get a good view of the right wing. I was also on a Window Seat because the F/A’s told everyone that an Air Canada plane was about to land on the runway to the right of the UA plane. I wanted to get a good view of the Air Canada flight landing on the runway. Anyways, we then heard the sounds of the engine of the Air Canada plane coming closer to us. I then turned towards the runway to see the Air Canada plane land. However, as the roaring sounds of Air Canada Flight 759 came closer and closer to us, we suddenly realized that the sounds of the engine wasn’t coming from the right of the plane, it was coming directly in front of the plane. Some people panicked from the cabin, but I didn’t react very much, mainly because I wasn’t 10 years old yet. Then, the sounds of the plane came closer and the cabin shook from the roar of the engines. I saw the landing lights of the Air Canada Plane, and it illuminated EVERYTHING around the UA plane. The wings were brightly illuminated and so was the taxiway. Then, in a few seconds, the roar of the engines started to disappear slowly, the sounds grew fainter and fainter. The landing lights from the Air Canada plane grew dimmer and dimmer until the wings and the taxiway were darkly lit once again. Little did I know, I survived from a near-runway collision.

[@t.p.mckenna]

Wow! No way is it comparable, but I was at a junction on my bike, with the right of way, and to the right, a car stopped at at the double lines. Well, moments later I was traversing his bonnet. No I tell you this, purely because of the sound element. One moment I was safe, the next I could hear the vroom of an engine in my left ear. I never SAW him coming, but I HEARD him coming.

[@suspense_comix3237]

@@t.p.mckenna Must’ve been a fright of a sight to see, eh?

[@deepthinker999]

Superb Information - Thank You for contributing. Do you remember if anything was said on your plane?

[@suspense_comix3237]

@@deepthinker999 No, as far as I know that's all I remember...unfortunately. I just remember people panicking and stuff. I’ll keep you updated if I remember though, as my parents and brothers were on the flight as well.

[@LandofSunshine]

@@t.p.mckennadid you taste him coming as well?

[@decadent5341]

I'm impressed with the controller keeping it together. Obviously emotions were through the roof as American says "He flew just above us!!" and he calmly responds "I saw that guys". His immidiate focus is to keep things safe, running and seems super aware that Air Canada knows about their fuck up, they did not need a berating at that time. Very good controller work.

[@gama1123]

In memory of the Visual Bridge Approach to 28R when an adjacent parallel runway is closed.

[@luuduonghy659]

And pilot career too

[@Jump-2-the-moon]

@@luuduonghy659Naw I’m sure he’s still a captain. They’re desperate for pilots these days

[@TheflyingKipper-gl8oj]

At 11:43 did anyone else notice the missing landing gear on the 737?

[@luuduonghy659]

@@Jump-2-the-moon Yeah but it will affect them for the rest of the life

[@karekarenz2395]

@@luuduonghy659 Well, he won't be making that mistake again, that's for sure.

[@timf2279]

Thank you for not having the AI communications.

[@flyeagle320]

He created 28C runway by himself

[@Jump-2-the-moon]

28ER 28 “extra” right. Or 28 “emergency response”

[@christopherweise438]

@@Jump-2-the-moon - There was almost a mass "ER" event at every hospital in Northern California. Damn that was close.

[@suspense_comix3237]

No, Taxiway Charlie is still 28R, but the existing 28R is now 28C, for Centre.

[@scottfranco1962]

How in the HECK can these guys talk so calmly on the radio? This is facing your own death and the death potentially of 100's.

[@spiritmatter1553]

They’re remarkable, aren’t they? I think they’re just so very focused on their tasks.

[@suspense_comix3237]

They are trained to talk in a calm and clear voice (unlike _some_ pilots from Russia and stuff), so that the ATC can correctly understand their actions and stuff like that. If they screamed into their mics, I don't think anyone would know what they wanted. The Mics and Radios on planes may be good, but they are also pretty crappy at transmitting clear voices and sounds and stuff.

[@scottfranco1962]

@@suspense_comix3237 Not screaming is one thing. Being as calm as a Buddhist on Valium is another thing.

[@botman234langer6]

Christ that could've been the worst plane crash of all time

[@psalm2forliberty577]

Yeah & thanks to Jesus Christ, it wasn't. The LORD said, not today, not here, not now. "Men make their plans, but GOD orders their steps"

[@maarten3225]

@@psalm2forliberty577 Lmao

[@6x.justin]

did the pilots get fired?

[@botman234langer6]

@@6x.justin idk

[@BigWhoopZH]

​@@6x.justincan you please ask that 10 more times? Lmao have a bit of patience for someone to answer...

[@vivi6121]

"he's on the taxiway" in the mist calming voice, it always amazes me how pilots are so calm in the most terrifying situation

[@rosemarymcgrory-eb2gd]

Coz they are trained to be I Guess , but who do you want in the cockpit a calm pilot, or a extremely stressed one 👍👍👍👍👍

[@vivi6121]

@@rosemarymcgrory-eb2gd yes of course they are trained but I don't think they would expect such situation like this one 😂. You can hear sometime very stressful pilots

[@wokewokerman5280]

Great video and audio of this near miss, we all appreciate your work and all the many incidents you have documented are a source for everyone including the industry...well done...

[@theflightchannel]

Thanks for the support! 😊

[@bassfischer4273]

Not a near miss. That was a near hit 😮

[@ceebee2]

Unbelievable how calm everyone sounded after *barely* avoiding the potential worst air disaster in modern history. If I were ATC or one of those pilots on the taxiway I would have been LIVID.

[@roldsch]

This gotta be drugs

[@margeebechyne8642]

Wow! That was rather miraculous that they didn't crash! So many flight crew errors! They really need to stay on top of not overworking/fatiguing pilots. I bet those pilots on the ground were like WTF?? If they had crashed, this would have been a worse event than the Tenerife crash. Thank you for another great presentation!

[@Celestial_Arishem]

Thank god a deadly crash of all time was averted at the last minute. 1000+ souls saved..........

[@philipnoonan4721]

I feel blessed to have experienced so many of fine editions of Flight Channel. This episode was masterful at every step . I sensed an understated but powerful buildup. The audio, video and extra graphics portraying the full situation left me amazed. Thank god. And yes, thanks To the actions of the PAL captain and everyone really when it counted most.

[@rgarlinyc]

Wow... that was TOO close, and this time, one of the few times I'm willing to attribute this to "Pilot Error"! By the way, Congratulations TFC pn getting Curiosity Stream as a channel sponsor - I've been a member of CS for a while and can certainly highly recommend it for superlative content!

[@drn13355]

What do you mean "you are willing"? What are you in charge of? I was an UH60 crew chief for 7 years and one thing I learned is I don't know everything and I have better be open to those with experience giving me input.

[@6x.justin]

did the pilots get fired?

[@rgarlinyc]

@@drn13355 I was speaking to myself - someone who is reluctant to accept the industry's all-too-often response of "blame the Pilot"

[@rgarlinyc]

@@6x.justin I'd say no - although the pilots were faulted for their mistakes, the FAA (#1) noted that the pilots were impaired due to overwork; (#2) recommended changes to SFO airport's rules (as TFC noted at the end of the video), and finally (#3) recommended that the airport's late-night control tower staffing had to be improved. Following these conclusions (and especially #1), there was no way Air Canada would then fire the pilots.

[@deepthinker999]

@@rgarlinyc When looking for a scapegoat, the persons at the bottom of the pecking order usually take the hit.

[@LV2UXO77]

*Thank God they didn't Crash into the planes.* Out of all the TFC videos I have watched, this one had me on the edge of my seat, and it was so very close to being the worst catastrophic disaster ever in the history of commercial flights if they crashed on top of the 4 planes. I can't begin to imagine what the pilots had to be thinking as they watched this plane coming toward them, knowing that their fate was in the hands of the pilots flying the plane, and there's no question many of them prayed for a miracle to spare their lives. Always fix the problem after...

[@maudessen573]

Excellent. You did a very good job of integrating graphics, animation, real audio, and real video. I think this is your best video to date. Congratulations, TFC!

[@ModernVintage31]

Good on the PAL pilots to flash their lights; I hope they got some kind of acknowledgment for attempting to do something to improve the situation instead of just passively sitting there, jaws agape. Big thumbs down to the Air Canada pilots. I understand fatigue, truly, but… my dudes… WTF

[@uglybetty8747]

Exactly PAL pilots were total heroes here fr

[@SuperAdventureR1301]

"I understand fatigue, truly, but". Clearly you don't. Just another case of the working class getting shafted by a company that doesn't give one damn about their wellbeing and mental state. There is no valid reason for why the pilot was flying that plane after a 20 hour day. For how many lives are at risk when flying, it should be illegal for a pilot to be forced into that position by some greedy corporation.

[@johneyon5257]

it isn't known if PAL's lights alerted the AC pilots - or the casual message of the United pilots - or AC finally saw the planes clearly enuf to pull away just in time - no one seems to have asked the AC pilots

[@JH-Carbon]

By the way you worded it, I highly doubt that you know much about fatigue, when it comes to pilots at least. And as for the Philippines airline, I don't think that its confirmed they were the main reason why this disaster was averted. With how bright the a320's lights were and how close they were to the ground and the other planes, I think seeing the Philippines flight flashing their lights would have been very difficult to see, but that's just me. At the end of the day, at least the pilots of the Philippines' airline tried something. I'll give them that.

[@sooners2037]

Mrcoolmannico here in the Us pilots have a maximum flight hrs of the day that they cannot fly past same in Europe also we have a time period of number of rest hours required between last flight and the first flight that was established long before this Air Canada flight happened as far as Canada they were behind on this regulation or even knew it and still didn’t enforce it. Flights here in the USA will get cancelled if a flight crew exceeds that flight time even if weather conditions affect flights also

[@dx1450]

If they had continued with the landing just a few seconds later instead of realizing their mistake, I shudder to think how catastrophic that accident would have been. It would have made Tenerife look mild by comparison.

[@davidnugent9417]

I watched the NTSB hearing on this, the Chairperson had an extensive monologue on the NOTAM system and was very critical of it, insisting that it needed to be revamped

[@JuniorAviation2017]

Been waiting for this incident to be made to show what happened in more perspectives. Kudos to the pilots for reacting quickly and the other pilots warning at the last second!

[@markoutwithmark]

I have been a fan of yours for a few years now. I am very encouraged to see how your page is growing. I hope it continues to flourish!

[@las2665]

This not just „close“ but so close that it can not get any closer !

[@lunayoshi]

I mean, technically they could get closer by crashing, but yes, it was very close!

[@deepthinker999]

"Any landing that you can walk away from is a good landing". I believe that is the industry standard.

[@robertl426]

I've seen ATC videos about this incident, your recreation shows how close this was to the worst air crash in aviation history. Thankfully they were able to pull up and climb in time.

[@babygrrlpc5057]

I feel so bad for these Canadian pilots. Yes, we expect pilots to be perfect at all times; safety depends on it. You aren't allowed to be "human" very often, in flight. The real question is, how much of the pressure to be on time plays into all decisions pilots make; what negative consequences do the pilots get from their airlines' management? Sure, we've all heard that go-arounds are "no fault", that a pilot can make that decision at any time, and yet, so often we find pilots hesitant to do so. I'm sure there's a fine line and a "magic number" the airlines look at when examining pilots' records of go-arounds. But this incident reminds me so much of automobile accident investigations. People run into the backs of cars all the time, and the first thing the offender's lawyer will check is whether the car that got rear-ended had their brakes depressed and/or whether their brake lights work. Any failure of either and they attempt to make the guy that was rear-ended "contributorily negligent." But it begs the question - whether you saw the lights or not, shouldn't the large back end of the car in front of you getting closer and closer, faster and faster, be your first clue? These pilots thought they saw traffic on what they perceived to be the runway; they checked with ATC. Despite ATC telling them that there was no one on the actual runway, the pilots over-rode their own eyesight and continued. Even if they would have been proven incorrect, they should not have been afraid to tell anyone later that they PERCEIVED traffic and decided to go around, but I'm sure that report would have been scrutinized by the airline. There's just so much psychology involved here. It should have the effect on ALL of us to never mentally "check out" during any routine activity. Never assume the guy going the other way will stop at his stoplight, just because yours is green. We have seconds to survive our judgments. As for that first United pilot, he also seemed terribly lax, likely even while slightly terrified to see what was coming at him. A casual comment should have been a more official declaration of suspected danger, even if it would make him sound like a "Karen". Again, everyone is so used to things operating perfectly that we don't keep in our minds constantly the possibility of things going wrong. We too casually condemn these pilots but any one of us could - and likely do - have near misses many times in our lives...without the benefit of ATC recordings and video. Thank God this turned out well, but it was a desperately-needed wake-up call to everyone.

[@jeffmentzer9186]

Excellent overview, thank you!!!

[@mako88sb]

Well said. It’s easy to find discussion about this incident on forums dedicated to professional pilots such as pprune.

[@bjr4567]

Fortunately things were just "amiss enough" in their collective perceptions that the ACA crew initiated their go-around, and without a second to spare.

[@karyncremeens9376]

Good summary but can we please stop with the “Karen” reference. Unnecessary as a descriptor and I’m tired of the reactions when I introduce myself. 😢 ❤

[@nikolaykumchev9530]

The UAL1 Captain was too laid back, even after realising that AC759 is coming straight at them!

[@jokers7890]

Watching hundreds of these videos on different channels, the pilots and ATC almost always stay very calm in their comms. Many pilots remain completely calm even when they are seconds away from certain death. I think it has to do with the circumstances as a pilot, they know it won't do any good to panic or get excited. They also know they are being recorded and don't want to sound like an idiot either, even if its their last words.

[@johneyon5257]

the AC wasn't headed straight for him - it would have passed over him - maybe hitting the tail - i think United's voice would have been very different if the plane was headed for his windscreen

[@jaisabai4155]

So what became of the crew? Any sanctions?

[@aviationid0116]

Was the pilot fired after the near-miss incident?

[@FuelPoverty]

I hope not, because for sure they will never, ever, make a similar mistake ever again.

[@deepthinker999]

@@FuelPoverty Probation and retraining might have been more appropriate. You need to look at the entire career of the pilots before reaching a decision.

[@johneyon5257]

Air Canada was criticized in the NTSB report for their scheduling of pilots - i guess it has been an ongoing problem with them

[@Wanwoodis]

All of these plane crashes are terrifying btw keep up the great work+

[@chrish2666]

Glad you're getting some real sponsors! Your channel is incredible and you deserve it.

[@blueblur6447]

Ya his brand and how he approaches this genre is pretty amazing... He deserves the monetary return on all his work.

[@TJRohyans]

Failed to even catch it on ATIS. That could have been a real tragedy.

[@lonesparrow]

I had watched a video about this incident previously, but your visual simulation adds a lot to understanding the incident. Thanks for covering this one.

[@taylorrowland4433]

The Delta flight “no nose gear” landing into Charlotte yesterday is going to give Flight Channel more content 🙌🏻

[@deepthinker999]

That actually is a common problem. JetBlue had one as well as LOT.

[@Picture_That_With_A_Kodak]

Thank you for such informative videos ✈️

[@TheVermilliaFamily]

Bit charring to have the sponsor placed where they were. Would have preferred it being at the very beginning after the preview.

[@KrattarKrattar]

That could’ve easily become the worst aviation-disaster of all time. Four loaded planes lined up, dear god.

[@bjr4567]

The NTSB determined the separation difference between the ACA759 fuselage and PAL115 vertical stabilizer to be 13.5 feet, but to account for "inherent uncertainties," declared it to be between 10 and 20 feet. PAL115 was the 2nd plane behind UAL1. Only 1-2 seconds more delay in the pull-up time and the collision would have occurred.

[@djdacar]

"Will talk to you in a couple of minutes".... Yeah, with the boss! XD

[@donfreborg5188]

Damn! Hadn’t heard about this close call. Thanks for posting the video. I need a beer.

[@sarahalbers5555]

Me too. Please pass the pretzels. Hard to believe this really happened.

[@LadyLithias]

I heard about this.... and the pilots didn't follow standard procedure to preserve the voice recorder, so by the time the investigation was over with, it had been overwritten. What's crazy to me is the fact that i can record a full month on my barn camera, go back, see and listen to a month of activity, but the FAA can't create a voice recorder that records all full-length flights, with a data dump every time they're on the ground. Anyway, this was bad, and not long afterwards there was another Air Canada landing at SFO who was told to go around as the airplane exiting the runway was going too slowly. They were told to go around. No response. Told to go around. No Response. The airplane with his butt still sticking out onto the runway was told to expedite his exit of the runway (and he was listening to the communications so he was "flooring it" to get it off the runway). I think what ended up happening was that he landed successfully but not very safely, and it turned out he'd switched to the ground frequency before landing so couldn't hear ATC telling him to go around.

[@jamesm3471]

Chilling! Literal seconds away from a funeral pyre for more than a thousand people!! Checklists matter: every item on every list is there for a reason! You’re a team on the flight deck. Use CRM to get them done when they’re supposed to be done. Flying behind the aircraft is just asking for trouble, most especially in today’s crowded skies!

[@privatepilot4064]

Checklists have saved my bacon, no doubt!

[@jamesm3471]

@@privatepilot4064 I’m in the exact same boat er.. airplane as you are on that one!

[@deepthinker999]

You are discounting the roll that fatigue played and the airline that created that problem. That should have been investigated.

[@jamesm3471]

@@deepthinker999 I discount nothing my friend! I want every single aspect of this near disaster to be thoroughly investigated, most especially the role crew fatigue played in this, so that procedures can be implemented to prevent it from really happening. The last thing we need today is a 21st Century sequel to the Tenerife.

[@mikemarkowski7609]

As with almost all such incidents it is a combination of various errors that can result in disaster, rarely a single issue.

[@filipecoutinho5706]

Wow they went full Harrison Ford mode 😮

[@wixom01]

Whew! I always breath a sigh of relief after watching one of this channels videos when everyone survives.

[@SVT-ny8ee]

So much close😮

[@theflyingrealestateagent2828]

SFO should have been using the ILS 28R rather than the FMS Bridge visual to a single runway which accomplishes little. Further, there should have been an illuminated “X” on 28L rather than simply turning the lights off. Add to that, the nonsense of the NOTAM system and the ridiculous duty days that are allowed by Canadian standards and you end up with this. Ultimately, the pilots recognized the error and saved the day. Well done!

[@James-FL]

Nope! How could the pilots miss the bright lights of runway 28R and instead attempted to land in darkness?! Amateur mistake! The fault lies squarely on the Air Canada pilots and nobody else. Also, remember the pilots failed to enter any ILS data, also their fault.

[@lunayoshi]

@@James-FL I agree that the pilots are mostly at fault here, but whoever thought it was a good idea to put pilots that were fatigued behind the "wheel" aught to be held accountable here too. Does anyone know if pilots are allowed to say they're too tired to fly? Is that allowed in the industry, or is it more of a culture of "suck it up and do your job?" Just curious if this was preventable otherwise.

[@theflyingrealestateagent2828]

@@James-FL.. Not sure how many times you’ve flown into SFO but a Delta crew made a similar error prior to AC and queried ATC about the configuration of the airport, lighting etc. As far as not tuning the ILS, that was policy at the time as I understand it. (Admittedly, a poor one) These pilots were following policy. It’s easy to watch a video and refer to “bright lights” but the actual airport environment looks nothing like the video. It was most certainly not an amateur mistake as you put it. There were a number of other factors in play including expectancy bias and continuation bias that are both better understood as a result of this incident.

[@grmpEqweer]

​@@lunayoshi ...You mean there's places _without_ the "suck it up and do your job," culture? ...I'm in the USA, so, we're just dying for the shareholders over here.

[@James-FL]

@@theflyingrealestateagent2828 Damn near impossible to miss the fully lit runway, unless you're focused on the cockpit environment and not flying the aircraft in it's external environment.

[@MB-hc2xw]

That was insanely close. I can't imagine how these pilots felt after realizing what happened and could have happened. Worth noting... SFO is a nightmare of an airport to fly into or out of as a pilot or passenger. I fly into to SJC and drive to SF, if needed.

[@tomperkins5657]

"As a result, the FAA recommended they not do it again."

[@asdf3568]

The thumbnail is a bit misleading. Surely it was 5 feet from the tail

[@bestboy138]

Fatigue was certainly a factor as the pilot was up all night watching Amazon princess warriors on Tubi and furiously whacking off. …and it’s doesn’t look right not don’t look right. 😂😢😅

[@royjudson4380]

The only positive takeaway i get from this, lessons we're learned without nobody having to die.

[@deepthinker999]

Those are the best kind of lessons.

[@johneyon5257]

i haven't heard if anything institutional has been done - except that Air Canada has starting looking at safer scheduling of pilots --- spoke too soon - i looked at the NTSB report available on-line - it made recommendations for modernizing the NOTAMs to make recognizing and remembering critical info - warning devices for planes lined up on taxiways - and methods for signaling closed runways

[@TadanoCandy]

In a parallel universe, this would’ve surpassed Tenerife

[@suspense_comix3237]

Yep, and I probably would have died from the Runway Collision.

[@m.larminamelendres8267]

@TheFlightChannel please make a video of what happen to Philippines Airlines

[@Lastdon56]

Basically. Make sure you get enough sleep. Lack of sleep creates a multitude of mistakes.

[@bjr4567]

Beyond exhaustion, they were also battling with what they call "expectation bias."

[@briansequeira5609]

amazing video and superb graphics. what a relief this disaster was avoided.

[@pdobos]

That was suspenseful!

[@jagaimeow]

this simulation gave me a real shudder. even more after watching the footage and realising how close they were from crashing. this could've been the worst accident in the history of aviation.

[@theronerd]

As a pilot, I haven't a clue how this continues to happen.

[@iamrightoutsideyourwindowhello]

When your airline does not allow you to rest after 19 hours of flying, death will happen

[@chrisclark5204]

The first officer should have been seriously reprimanded and made to go through flight training again for his negligence to enter the ILS information.

[@WayneM1961]

Hells bells and buggery That so easily could have become another Tenerife type disaster with maybe even more killed.

[@kevinfoley8105]

LMAO, Hell's Bells and Buggery...I'm using that one! I love you Brits!

[@grmpEqweer]

I like it too. I also like to collect "Southernisms," those are similar, but with more drawl.

[@WayneM1961]

@@kevinfoley8105 Well are two countries do have a "Special relationship" so why not lol. Have a good weekend.

[@donprez6187]

Greetings from Southern California USA. Best content published ever. Thanks from all your Fans.

[@lbmclean]

one of these things is not like the other! how many flight hours until you can distinguish a lighted runway?

[@raccuia1]

Our lives are in their hands. Scary.

[@richardriggs4413]

While I'm not a pilot, nor do I work at the airport, I have lived in this area my whole life. Before 9/11 you used to be able to go out and park near the runways that ran opposite [ west to east ] to runway 28L,R. Even driving on the 101 freeway you can look out and see all the planes in line waiting to take off from runways 28 R L. They are always left of runway 28L. The opposite of what is shown in this video. I don't think I have ever seen aircraft lined up to the right of runway 28R. Perhaps a runway closure makes it necessary. You can bet I will be looking for this in the future, but I have to believe it is a rare occurence. With runway 28R lit up like it was how could those pilots want to land on the taxiway like that?

[@terrencemathew7389]

The footage from the airport camera was truly scary.

[@micathedachshund5921]

Although mistakes were made, the pilots managed to save hundreds of lives and stayed calm under stress. Thanks for these great videos!

[@karentracy9657]

Lol. You can’t be serious.

[@timf2279]

@@karentracy9657 NO kidding. I hope they were fired.

[@marcdraco2189]

@@timf2279 I think this is a case of multiple errors with the main one being "familiarity breeds contempt". The captain knew the flight so well it never crossed his mind that something could be changed - two runways, one on the left is closed - oh well, maybe the lights aren't working so well. It's amazing how our brains override our sense of "something being wrong"

[@lunayoshi]

@@marcdraco2189 I've done some really stupid-ass things when I was tired. I think the fault is half on the pilots and half on whoever thought it was a good idea to let them fly in that condition.

[@marcdraco2189]

@@lunayoshi Disruption in circadian rhythms is a great way to screw with the brain's ability to think clearly. Pilots theoretically have the option to refuse to fly but my reading of it is, fly or find another job... I suspect a lot of automotive wrecks are due to this too, particularly as some people appear to function better later in the day and, naturally, prefer to sleep some of the morning. To your point, I've made some horrendous mistakes when tired - even (or perhaps esp.) when I'm not aware of how fatigued I am.

[@darcyjorgensen5808]

Landing at SFO is always fun if you are surrounded by a bunch of people who are unfamiliar with it.

[@michaelhall9138]

I'm a retired controller with many years working TRACONs & towers. Where was the tower controller? Towers have windows for a reason! He should have also looked at the BRITE , which would have showed ACA was lined-up on the taxiway and not the runway. A similar situation happened to me when I was at SLC. A WA DC10 was lined-up on the highway west of the airport instead of his assigned runway, (the old) 34L. It wasn't that hard to tell he was lined-up for the wrong landing surface.

[@lu7304]

I loved your channel man you amazing

[@notvalidcharacters]

1:33 - "the flight is scheduled to land at SFO before the runway will be closed".... 1:39 - "the flight is scheduled to land at SFO at 23:03, 3 minutes after runway 28L is scheduled to be closed" *Both cannot be true*

[@babygertie6542]

Jeez... that was close! That was definitely a "not today, Satan" moment... great video! 👍

[@German_Shepherd_Mom]

this was the first time I ever covered my eyes thinking that plane was going to strike all 4 on the ground. What a miracle they pulled out just in time. Thank God for that and for the lives saved that night!

[@zackq8865]

The united airlines pilot "where's this guy going" had me rolling on the floor 😂😂😂😂😂

[@jacksoncapper]

That was intense. So glad that turned out okay.

[@manuelgordilloocampo262]

11:51 *That was very close* 😳

[@scottyjohnson3120]

If they would have hit that first plane it would have made Tenerife seem tame in comparison. They definitely would have broken the record and forever lived in aviation infamy.

[@mbvoelker8448]

Very well presented. One of your best.

[@charansidhu9]

Thank God! 🙏🏻 Otherwise, this would have been bigger than the Tenerife disaster. 😮

[@RJDA.Dakota]

Always a tremendous video. Always a supremely high quality presentation!

[@6x.justin]

did the pilots get fired?

[@Jump-2-the-moon]

I wish you would put dates in the description of your video. It just gives more context at a quick glance to the video.

[@ladydamiana6841]

0:15 not good enough?

[@treywest268]

I am so happy that there were no deaths in what would have been the worst flying disaster ever!!! I have read that cleaning all the seats in cockpits of those on taxiway Charlie totaled about $100,000 though.

[@love2fly558]

This is called the Harrison Ford Approach. Definitely would’ve been the worst disaster in aviation history; amazing how history changed (or not changed) in a matter of seconds.

[@dann6y]

If the disaster actually happened, there would’ve been at least 1,000-1,200 deaths

[@wesmcgee1648]

Holycrow! 1000 souls had no idea how close they came to death! Excellent work Flight channel!

[@ronaryel6445]

Nice video. I agree with the deleterious effects of lack of adequate rest, and I agree with the airport's decision to ban visual approaches. Why would a flight crew voluntarily stick with a visual only approach when ILS is available? Given the level of fatigue and the presence of a closed runway, I would think the pilots would want to use the ILS to make their landing more idiot-proof. When my wife and I are driving somewhere and we don't feel 100% well, we will turn on navigation and project it onto a Heads Up Display. That we we don't have to think about it too much. There is also the question of mistaking a taxiway for a runway. Taxiways are not lit the same as runways. 28R undoubtedly had bright centerline lights on as well as approach strobes. The pilots did not consider: "Why would the airport direct us to land on a more dimly light strip with no approach strobes in front of it? The closest strip with approach strobes is to our left; that must be the runway, because if the runway were closed, as per NOTAMS, we would see a big X in place of the approach strobes." Air Canada obviously needed to rethink its work schedule policies, and these pilots need more training and to demonstrate proficiency. Not only would they have killed 1,000 passengers and four other flight crews, they would have destroyed the runway and Jet-A from five airplanes would have spilled all over the place and caused fires that would have taken a long time to put out.

[@laurat1129]

The AC pilots were obvs not as *familiar* w/flying in/out of SFO as they thought.

[@renferal5290]

Now that was rather scary!!

[@GeoHvl]

Thank you for these very informative videos. Once again I am astonished at how much these pilots do these things.

[@deepthinker999]

We need to examine the entire problem, not just a short cut to only blame the pilots.

[@ianendangan7462]

The second aircraft in line is the Philippine Airlines A340 fully loaded with fuel for trans pacific flight. In the Video the PAL A340 lit up the landing light seconds A320 flew overhead. From its landing path it will hit the A340 on the spot with the front plane hit at the rudder. Meanwhile the PAL pilots were never interviewed.

[@bjr4567]

I don't believe any of the ground aircraft pilots were interviewed because there were no fatalities or damage involved in this incident, and because the NTSB believed they had sufficient data as it was to reasonably conclude their investigation.

[@jettrink9502]

Amazing work ! Felt like I was there.

[@peterkoln2837]

This was close! Thanks for another great video.

[@KelpieDog]

Another top notch presentation.

[@scottfranco1962]

So there is a system I have seen, where a truck drives up on the runway and lights up a big "X" on the closed runways. I don't know why that is not in more general use, this accident was 2017. Its relivant here because the closed runway was not lit and the pilots were expecting to see two parallel runways in front of them and then land on the right one. What they saw was lit 28r and the taxiway, and they locked into that as being the parallel runway.

[@laurat1129]

Or maybe giant, litup runway numbers, like "28R"? This pilot sounds so tired, I think he still would've taken the taxiway.

[@scottfranco1962]

@@laurat1129 It would imply the runway is open. X is universal for "runway not open". They paint it on out of service runways.

[@laurat1129]

@@scottfranco1962 Sorry, I was only half-joking about the 28R, though hopefully, SFO and other airports are using the "X", among other things. (Now w/air travel chaos ahead of this weekend, I'm afraid things are only getting worse.)