"Air traffic control sounded panicked" - To be honest I thought that guy sounded very calm and a tad bit annoyed.

That was panic in the controller's voice?? If that was panic that was the most chill panic I've ever heard. I'm glad everyone is ok.

The way she says 28R is mildly infuriating

The FAA concluded after speaking to the flight crew and probing other data that the “crew inadvertently switched from the SFO tower frequency to the SFO ground frequency after receiving their landing clearance.” “The FAA deemed this event to be an isolated occurrence and not reflective of any systematic deficiencies at Air Canada,” according to a FAA spokesman.

Air traffic controller: " air Canada 781, go around." Air traffic controller. " air Canada 781, go around." Pilot : " shhhh" Air traffic controller. " air Canada 781, go around." Pilot :" chill bro..I already parked"

Simple: Air traffic controller didn't end his sentences with "...eh."

9,000 hour pilot here. There was no DEVIATION offense, here. More like Controller Error. This "It's always the pilot's fault" crap has got to stop. The controller messed up his landing deck, didn't get the runway cleared in time, and needed AC781 to help him fix it. All 6 instructions to "Go around" occurred within 30 seconds. The Pilot, copilot, and flight engineer are all listening on the radio. For all three of them to miss 6 instructions in 30 seconds indicates that they did not hear the instructions. i.e. they did lose radio contact. Light Gun Signal? Who is kidding whom? The red light gun signal is a 6" FLASHLIGHT from inside the tower, which is over a mile from the end of the runway, way to the left of the pilot's vision. Nobody is going to see that. Pilots are not trained to look at the tower for landing instructions. Flying into an airport, at night looks like a Christmas tree of lights. The pilot was cleared to land. His concentration is on the lights at the touchdown zone. Not the tower. Who is investigating the controller?

Apparently these pilots are being accused of disobeying directions from the tower. Surely the possible consequences are dire so what would be their motivation for doing so deliberately?

And this is why air traffic controlers work 3 days and get 4 off. The amount of stress must be crazy!! Holy cow!

...ATC didn't say EH at the end of each sentence, nothing more

Ok as a commercial pilot (funny to see wannabes in the comments) I've had avionics failure. It happens. Mic's get stuck. If you're on short final you're not looking for signals from tower. Especially during that critical phase of flight. It happens. Not directly the pilots fault. Equipment failure is uncontrollable. Glad everyone touched down safely.

I don't know how the radios operate on Airbus. However It may be possible for radio failure and the other 2 radios were not tuned to the tower frequency, thus they wouldn't have heard them. The weather may have been low visibility(I don't know what the weather really was) so they may not have seen the light gun. Another point to make and being a pilot myself, I never look at the tower on an airport when I am on final for landing if i'm not expecting light gun signals. Usually too far out of sight while focusing on landing the plane. Just my thoughts

That lawyer is definitely more lawyer than he is pilot. The light gun signal argument is irrelevant. If the flight crew's story is that they truly never heard any further radio transmissions after they were cleared to land, which is completely normal, then why the hell would they think to look at the tower for light signals??

Should have been in French, screamed into the mic, with wild hand-gestures.

"Air Traffic Controller sounded almost panicked" The controllers voice was very calm he just sounded a bit pissed bcs of ACA not going around. Also how would he know that the pilots just magically switched from ILS to VIS he must've been in the cockpit at the time.

On the previous incident, how the hell can you land on a "taxiway"? Those lights are blue, not white.

The cockpit voice recorder will tell the tale, whether or not the radios were working. If they were, both pilots could loose their licenses.

It's been a bad week for some pilots. Last week it was the pilots who did an *approved* fly-over for a last flight but then got suspended for doing it. Now these Air Canada pilots will get hauled over the coals and surely suspended.

Either its racism or the Russians.

Upon hearing this “expert” again, I’m even more troubled with his analysis. Whether there are 2 or 3 radios onboard (I’m sure there are 2 that are being monitored) in normal operations (other than close parallel landing operations that I don’t think SFO does), only one will have the tower frequency tuned unless there is an unusual situation known or suspected. Also there was no panic in the controller’s voice - perhaps annoyance, yes. This lawyer and (supposedly former pilot) should stick to chasing ambulances.

Captain Sum Ting Wong was at the controls...

So 2 well trained pilots just ignored 6 warning of go around. I don't believe they heard "Go around". Also I would like to see that red light flashing and how easy it is to see. Previous incident with aircanada has nothing in common to this one.

IS AIR CANADA being blocked or Fined ? Do pilots pay Fine$ and lose employment ?

28R is the main runway used for ILS approach. Instrument landings are often needed because of the fog there. Runways 28R and 19 are the instrument landing runways at SFO

Something is very fishy here. Air Canada has made two life-threatening mistakes at the same airport in the last 2 months.

This is a complete farce! Why is it that people think pilots just do as they are told and it is ATC that are in control of everything? The "expert" in this case is misleading and I think was only selected to hype up the story. To respond to some of the points: - "Almost from the first day pilots are trained to do as ATC tells them unless the safety of the aircraft is in danger" If this is what you were trained to do then I am worried, my training revolved around "Aviate, Navigate, Communicate" as a list of priorities, ATC are part of a framework and while permission is needed for many of the things we do (Take-off, Landing etc) they don't get the same pictures as the pilots so the relationship is a two way street. - "The airbus has 3 radios, and it is unlikely all failed" This is true the aircraft has 3 radios. However not all the radios are tuned to the same frequency (station) at the same time. The primary radio will be on tower, the secondary is usually on the emergency frequency and the third radio could be tuned to company frequency or used for datalink. So it would only take the primary radio to fail to not hear tower. (It is possible that the tower also broadcast on the emergency frequency, however it is common practice for this to be turned down, but not off, during critical phases of flight as it can add unwanted distractions, so may not be immediately audible) Now, I haven't checked the airport weather but looking at the reported weather for San Francisco it seemed a clear and fine day and evening, so the last a biggest point here that has been missed entirely, THERE ARE WINDOWS ON THE FRONT OF THE AIRCRAFT! If the runway was still occupied then the pilots can go around themselves, they don't need ATC to tell them. Was it correct to potentially ignore the ATC instruction, no, do I believe that they intentionally ignored the call? no. Do I think that the safety of this flight was at a significantly higher risk because of the missed radio call, no. There are genuine, worrying situations in aviation at the moment. Issues like fatigue, that have caused serious accidents in the past and yet nothing has been done. Organisational pressures that put genuine strain on air traffic controllers, flight crew and cabin crew, all so the consumer can get cheaper and cheaper air fairs. The FAA will investigate every reportable incident and that is correct. Is it worth the 10 minute news piece criticising Air Canada pilots, no. Just my (probably a bit more than...) two cents.

Many years ago when I was a student pilot on a solo flight from Lynchburg, Va. in to Raleigh Durham, North Carolina I had a similar incident. I couldn’t hear any radio communication from the tower. I saw the green light and landed safely. I soon after landing I discovered I had some time during the flight turned down the volume of the radio.

The ATC f'ed up. We should have said, "Canada 781 go around eh?"

I’m sure this is more a pissing contest that actual traffic separation.

Air traffic controller: " air Canada 781, go around." *Pilot to Co-Pilot:* He wants us to land and then _'go around'_ aircraft waiting to depart ! Co-Pilot: Sounds dangerous! Maybe we should just circle and land after? *Pilot:* NO! Rule No. 1. Flight controller tells you to do something, you do it immediaahhhhhhhhhhtely! Phew! Just missed

Actually, the A320 and 321 both have problems with their radio connections, the ground pin isn't usually secured correctly and it can sometimes short out. Airbus did release a manual patch to airlines servicing the 320 series, but probably because of budget cuts, AC may have decided not to and leave it to chance.

I wonder whether pilot or co-pilot switched to the ground control frequency too soon. Red lights are so rare, that part is easier to understand.

Murdock: We have clearance, Clarence. Oveur: Roger, Roger. What's our vector, Victor?

Happened to me once when I was cleared to land. Atc apparently gave me a heading change to accommodate an American MD-80 on approach to a parallel runway. Didn't hear any of their transmissions and continued on with a right base entry. Fortunately my instructor and I saw the MD-80 and queried the controller as the American was close for no traffic advisory. The transmission went through and we learned they had made several attempts to reach us. From that experience I can say that radios have a tendency to fail during important phases of flight and then start working again. I believe the Air Canada pilots in this case. It was just an unfortunate time for it to happen.

This man should do commentary for every plane related incident that hits the pipeway. He seems so knowledgable and informative despite the fact he may be totally wrong. Lol

Going to san fran in july 2018 from Toronto Canada cant wait

Aviate, communicate, navigate in any emergency...doesn’t seem like they had an emergency.

A taxi runway and a TOL runway that is seperate by 100ft apart is waiting for an accident to happen. ..my humble opinion.

Canadians are so polite :) ATC: Air Canada 781, you are NOT cleared to land. AC781: no that's okay we insist

is it the same air traffic controller or 2 different ones for each instance?

Don't know why this happened but why didn't the air controller change his language to something like "do you copy?" I don't know what protocol is on communication between ground and flights in the air but I would have tried to get clarification on the pilots receipt of the communication transmission.

Air canada is taking it hard on San francisco airport. First they try to land on the taxiway then they land the plane despite imstructing not to...

Part of the problem is that the AC781 flight was given initial clearance to land when in fact they were not clear to land, the runway was going to be obstructed by another plane. As was pointed out in another video, this "CTL on spec" happens in the USA but does not happen in Europe, which has airports that are just as busy. Clear to Land should only be given once a plane is truly clear to land.

I didn't go any further with this, but did they find any problems with the radios and did the pilots say that they saw the red light gun when asked if they had?

The news know f all about aviation, first “tarmac” and now her saying 28R

They've been given clearance to land. What prompted the ATC to cancel the clearance in the first place? No one explains that part.

The ALDIS lamp (light gun) signals are very hard to see unless you are looking directly at the tower. They're not used to get a pilot's attention, they're used when the pilot knows the radios don't work and is looking for the signals. With two pilots focusing on the runway, it's extremely likely they did not see the ALDIS signals.

Multiple Radios, yes, but not necessarily on the correct frequency.

It's two eight right not twenty eight arr 😂 Plus light gun signals are ridiculous. You don't see them unless you are looking at the tower. When you are on final looking at the tower is your last priority. ATC also gave clearance to land but I agree that the pilots should have done a go around if they heard it.

I am surprised there are not more of these landing issues particularly on the N and S runways! I mean how these pilots line up to land in this direction while adjusting to the earth's spin at 1000 mph takes a lot of skill.

Light signals can be very hard to see, and especially so if you are not watching for them. I once had trouble picking up the control tower on a particular frequency so the regional air traffic control folks (whose frequency did come in) told me to watch for light signals from the control tower. I still couldn't see them. (ultimately air traffic control relayed the clearance from the control tower to land)

When 781 first responded to the go around their radio sounded like it had a lot of static, so it is plausible that they had RFI or were in a signal depressed area.

0:32 when you say twenty-eight R instead of two-eight right

"half a dozen times" just say 6 times jeez..

I just flew on American Airlines and I was amazed at the age of some of he pilots that I saw in the airport. Some of them didn't look to be older than 24. Shouldn't there be requirements of experience for commercial pilots?

I glean from reading some answers that the red light is at the towerseems to me the red light should be at the beginning of the runway so the pilots can clearly see them.

For Canadian you should repeat with extra 1 word in alphabet"A". Go around aaaaa....

I hate these "aviation experts" how they sit in the chair and know everyting. What kind of ultralight pilot is this attorney-pilot?How many times did he land an A320 full of pax at night and in short final he aimed his sight to the tower and not to where he has to put that plane down. Those light guns signals are used by nordo aircrafts and in allmost all the cases the pilot and the controller both know they have to use them, so they expect them. Not an A320 pilot. It is evident something went wrong in the cockpit. No pilot in his right mind will not obey to an go arround order from a controller, NO ONE.

Maybee they turned the volume down on the radio and forgot to increase it again. It happened to me twice. The red light could be difficult to detect at a large airport with all lights around. At some airports t hey use red firework signal instead. Very easy to observe as they move up in the sky. Former CPL

How can it be that in 2017 a transmission between the traffic controller and the pilot is filled with static and barely clear enough to make out the words?

3 radios, yes, only one will have the tower frequency dialed in. The secondary radio will have company or ramp/gate frequency for when they land. The 3rd radio is never used unless one of the other 2 is known to be defective well prior to the incident. When you are on final, you are busy performing the checklist which requires a call and response between the pilots. The light gun signals are rarely used. I never look toward the tower when ready to land. It is usually off to the side by a 1/2 mile at times, opposite of me. I am focused on runway alignment, aircraft performance, and navigation. Such BS that the ambulance chasing lawyer is expecting a zero-defect environment. I get it, the situation could have been terrible, but the Monday morning quarterbacks are laughable.

Please dont say land on 28 "R". Say right

So .... what was the investigation conclusion?

Did the radio work when tested on the ground AFTER the landing? Did anyone bother to check?

I thought landing clearance were not issued until runway is clear

Watch out for all the Conspiracy Theorists! This is ripe with bait for them!

SFO is one of the toughest airport. All pilots are required to have a minimum of 40 hrs of flight time PIC to land at SFO. The flight crew was busy trying to fix the radio problem. During the approach, the pilots fell behind.

Air Canada be like *sOooO SoRRyyYy aBouuUUut tHaaaTt*

100k folks in the air around the erf at any given time, pilots and ATC do some pretty good work.

Air traffic controller: " Air Canada 781,go around" Air Canada pilot "sorrie I only speat French"

wait it said 9:00pm united was on the runway then it landed at 9:30 ? then they don't need to go around doesn't take 30 mins for a plane to move off the runway onto taxi way

Plane was about to run out of gas. I’m not going around nowhere lol

Air Canada was on a different radio frequency. Or didn’t communicate on the same language.

The San Francisco airport is very difficult to land on if you are not aware of its differences from all other airports in the world. It is past time to update the S.F. airport to modern safe standards, or so I have heard from one pilot who has landed a commercial planes on this unusual landing situation airport that lacks the more modern aids that line up the incoming airplanes with the runways.

A fair analysis of the situation. Thank God there was no collision.

The Southwest pilot probably saved hundreds of lives . He turned off the runway when he saw the other plane coming

3:33 when aussie accent mixes with American accent

ATC: Air Canada go around Pilot: Ohh but this time i am not on the taxiway?

Listen to the cockpit voice recorder and find out what was going on in the cockpit.

Hello, radio operator here. It is not uncommon for transmissions to become totally inaudible due to a wide range of reasons. To make it sound that somehow the crew landed in spite of hearing the orders is ludicrous.

It is important to follow the law!

can you say... TENERIFE ?

Has there been any update on investigations into this incident?

I flew Cessna's and I don't think taxiways have glide slope indicators or runway lights. 😀

Reads title *ABSOLUTE MAD LAD*

In the story and the Air Canada press release it was mentioned that AC781 had received its clearance to land. Once that clearance is received there is no expectation of further communication from ATC so if the radio wasn't working properly that would not elicit any adverse reaction from the flight crew. The lawyer mentioned that there are are a total of thre VHF radios aboard so it is doubtful that all three would not be working. What he didn't say was that it was highly doubtful that all three radios would be tuned to the Tower frequency. They would only be utilizing one radio. If they had suspected that there was a problem with the radio they could then switch to a back up. Since they had already received their landing clearance they would not of known they had a problem until the Tower finally reached them on the ground.

would what the ATC radio chat be heard on the "black boxes" or just the pilot end of the radio chat ?

ohhhhhhhh...soooo sad....

Air Canada is not the same airline as it once was, sad

There should be a colour code for landing and taxi way. Ex white strip blue light or any other color

So what is the results of the investigation? I know they changed things for the taxiway in SFO.

Sorry!

So, ATC had given erroneous instruction to land? Then rescinded that instruction? His first message was mumbled and very hurried and at no point did he say: "Air Canada Flight 781, please acknowledge my go around instruction." Was ATC even transmitting on the correct frequency?

Air Canada or any other company won't land if it wasn't given a green light . This recording is after he gave him clearance to land . The timing is the fact here .don't convince me the tower told him to circle and he decided to land . Doesn't make any sense. Something is not right here & it's not from the pilots side

"Son, d'ya ever hang around mens' locker rooms? 'Roger' Roger, ..and don't call me Shirley!"

If a pilot on final after being cleared to land loses his radio, the pilot is expected to land as long as she doesn't see anything that would cause her to go around. Also, when you land, you focus on the runway, you don't look at the tower for light gun signals. Lastly, an airplane can have any number of radios but you use them for different things, you rarely have multiple radios tuned to the same frequency as the lawyer implies. The real question here is if the crew actually ignored the controller, doubtful.

"twenty eight arr" I almost vomited.

This lawyer isnt a real pilot and has little clue what hes talking about.The red light being flashed at the pilot is over a mile away from the beginning of the runway. The pilots focus on their instruments and the landing zone when on final and would never be( and shouldnt be) looking away from the runway towards the tower. During daylight that light would be very hard to see even if you were looking directly at the tower. Yes they have 3 radios but its not practical and would be impossible to expect the pilots to have all 3 radios tuned to the tower frequency and being monitored simutaneously. Radios fail all the time controllers radios and the pilots radios.

Even if the radio is off, can't the pilot see in his windshield that he might collide with another plane? I'm sure he can see there is a plane on the runway too close and from that he can decide whether it's safe to land or not. I mean it's common sense

Pilot normally has to give a confirmation that atc instructions have been received and understood before being actioned. In UK anyway so that atc know you will follow the instruction