An Air Canada jet reportedly came within 100 feet from causing one of the worst disasters in aviation history

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July 14, 2017 3:50 PM

An Air Canada Airbus A320 reportedly came within 100 feet from crashing into a pair of airliners sitting on a taxiway.

C-FKCK, the Air Canada Airbus A320 involved in the incident.

Last Friday, Air Canada Flight 759 was forced to abort a landing attempt at San Francisco International after nearly touching down on one of the airport's taxiways.

Flight 759, from Toronto to San Francisco, had been cleared to land on Runway 28R. Instead, the pilots, on a visual approach, inadvertently lined up for Taxiway C which runs parallel to the runway.

The Air Canada jet was instructed to abort the landing only after a pilot of one of the planes on the taxiway alerted air traffic control, the preliminary report said.

Had AC759 collided with the four jets, it would most likely have been one of the worst disasters in the history of commercial aviation.

Fortunately, the aircraft was eventually able to land safely with no injuries reported among the 140 passengers and crew on board the Airbus A320.

In a statement to Business Insider, Air Canada wrote:

"Air Canada flight AC759 from Toronto was preparing to land at San Francisco airport Friday night when the aircraft initiated a go-around. The aircraft landed normally without incident. We are still investigating the circumstances and therefore have no additional information to offer. It was an A320 aircraft with 135 passengers and five crew."

Runway collisions have happened before and, in many instance with disastrous consequences. The most infamous example was the 1977 collision of two Boeing 747 jumbo jets in Tenerife in the Canary Islands that killed 583 people. In 1991, a US Air Boeing 737 landed on top of a SkyWest Airlines regional airliner, killing more than 30 people.

Here's the Transportation Safety Board of Canada's complete preliminary report:

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