Two airliners aborted landings at San Francisco International Airport last week after pilots spotted a Southwest Airlines jet taxiing across runways on which the other planes had been cleared to land.
United Airlines and Alaska Airlines aircraft were forced to abort landing attempts at San Francisco International Airport due to a Southwest Boeing 737 crossing two active runways at the airport on May 19th 2023.
The Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-700 (reg. N262WN) was taxiing to depart on flight #WN1179 from SFO to San Diego International Airport.
At this moment, a United Airlines Boeing 737 MAX-9 (reg. N37548) was on final approach to SFO on runway 28 left. The flight #UA277 from Washington Dulles to SFO, when the Southwest Airlines 737-700 crossed runway 28L, forcing the United Airlines aircraft to initiate a go-around.
Two minutes later, an Alaska Airlines Airbus A321neo (reg. N928VA) was operating flight #AS553 also from Washington Dulles to SFO.
The Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-700 was crossing runway 28R forcing the Alaska Airlines flight to go around.
An air traffic controller warned the Southwest pilots they should not have been on the runways .
The Federal Aviation Administration said that the Southwest plane cleared the runways when the other planes passed directly overhead, and the decision to abort the landings was “precautionary.”
