Again? FAA investigates another Air Canada landing mix-up at SFO

Or like telling Air China to turn left direct TEB. You receive some unintelligible reply and then watch him turn right.


Confirm?
Thats all of the Far-Eastern Carrier's go to out here haha, some of the older guys will build it into a clearance and it somehow works. "Air China Turn left heading 265, Confirm'
 
I've been to a lot of airports on this blue marble. SFO is probably the most messed up. I can only imagine what it's like for a non-native speaker, or if there was an airport like sfo in China. Shouldn't matter for air Canada though.

They need more ground controllers/frequencies during peak times, especially when you have people towing airplanes all over the place that don't know how to communicate on the radio. It's a real clown fiesta.

I will admit that it is entertaining hearing all the screw ups every night on taxi out, all the while doing my best not to become one of them.
 
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I've been to a lot of airports on this blue marble. SFO is probably the most messed up. I can only imagine what it's be like for a non-native speaker, or if there was an airport like sfo in China. Shouldn't matter for air Canada though.

They need more ground controllers/frequencies during peak times, especially when you have people towing airplanes all over the place that don't know how to communicate on the radio. It's a real clown fiesta.

I will admit that it is entertaining hearing all the screw ups every night on taxi out, all the while doing my best not to become one of them.

Yes indeedy, I've had some odd ones there including a perplexed controller wondering why we wouldn't accept a visual when he left us at 3,000' and 210 knots until the bridge (San Mateo not Dumbarton). I usually include SFO ATC as a threat in my briefings these days.
 
Confirm?
Thats all of the Far-Eastern Carrier's go to out here haha, some of the older guys will build it into a clearance and it somehow works. "Air China Turn left heading 265, Confirm'
I do that. Now when they stop on active taxiways for no reason, I just jump on them "Please, continue taxi you are number 1, confirmed, continue taxi". "Ah ok ok we taxi now". That or just repeat things to them twice, but they seem to screw that up, too.
 
Yes indeedy, I've had some odd ones there including a perplexed controller wondering why we wouldn't accept a visual when he left us at 3,000' and 210 knots until the bridge (San Mateo not Dumbarton). I usually include SFO ATC as a threat in my briefings these days.
I got that on day one of IOE [emoji14]

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk
 
Luckily about half my flights into SFO involve a 4 AM arrival time. Outstanding ATC service at that time of morning :) . Cleared for approach at FL200. Wake up the norcal guy 10 minutes later and independently report establish on the LOC "uhhh yeah contact tower".
 
I do that. Now when they stop on active taxiways for no reason, I just jump on them "Please, continue taxi you are number 1, confirmed, continue taxi". "Ah ok ok we taxi now". That or just repeat things to them twice, but they seem to screw that up, too.

I swear some Air China pilots choose frequency time to practice their English, and keep the mic pressed while they think of the word
 
I've been to a lot of airports on this blue marble. SFO is probably the most messed up. I can only imagine what it's like for a non-native speaker, or if there was an airport like sfo in China. Shouldn't matter for air Canada though.

They need more ground controllers/frequencies during peak times, especially when you have people towing airplanes all over the place that don't know how to communicate on the radio. It's a real clown fiesta.

I will admit that it is entertaining hearing all the screw ups every night on taxi out, all the while doing my best not to become one of them.
They do split the grounds at T2 when staffing permits. In the morning, they bounce back and forth between 121.8 and 124.25 constantly for the South Field. Hopefully in a few years I'll be in a position to try my hand at it, but there is only so much you can do. The SFO configuration was never meant to have this many airplanes. It'll be even worse when the new T1 opens along with Terminal "H" which will be adjacent to terminal G with several more international gates. It'll be game over if the airport seriously turns the United MOC on the Northwest side of the field into a remote terminal.

Until construction is over, SFO is about to lose all widebody remote parking in the terminal area except for by the G-terminal. That means several wide-body tows per day upstream from the A-term to any other random part of the airfield. With housing prices so crazy out here, people never seem to stay long at the contract vendors that re-position airplanes. The voices never seem to last very long, I'm sure they go to United or Delta as soon as they get the chance to work for a "real" company and have some quality of life. I see something hilarious at least once or twice per week. At SFO, even at the ramp level, you get so used to people screwing up and almost hitting each other that it doesn't phase you, you just work around it. That's probably why both Air Canada screw ups were unreported for a few days, just another movement at SFO. Nobody died.

Culturally, out here in the Bay Area we're pretty laid back about flexing authority. At all levels of the airport, I've noticed you have to pretty much almost actually kill people or write off a jet to get in trouble. That, or make a crack about me being unprofessional on the radio for handing you off with a "toodles", then return to the hub and cut off a pushing plane NORDO in front of some airport ops trucks. Then I'll get your ass(you can totally say ass on here).
 
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They do split the grounds at T2 when staffing permits. In the morning, they bounce back and forth between 121.8 and 124.25 constantly for the South Field. Hopefully in a few years I'll be in a position to try my hand at it, but there is only so much you can do. The SFO configuration was never meant to have this many airplanes. It'll be even worse when the new T1 opens along with Terminal "H" which will be adjacent to terminal G with several more international gates. It'll be game over if the airport seriously turns the United MOC on the Northwest side of the field into a remote terminal.

Until construction is over, SFO is about to lose all widebody remote parking in the terminal area except for by the G-terminal. That means several wide-body tows per day upstream from the A-term to any other random part of the airfield. With housing prices so crazy out here, people never seem to stay long at the contract vendors that re-position airplanes. The voices never seem to last very long, I'm sure they go to United or Delta as soon as they get the chance to work for a "real" company and have some quality of life. I see something hilarious at least once or twice per week. At SFO, even at the ramp level, you get so used to people screwing up and almost hitting each other that it doesn't phase you, you just work around it. That's probably why both Air Canada screw ups were unreported for a few days, just another movement at SFO. Nobody died.

Yeah, I always enjoy guessing which random pax widebody will be parked by us at Plot 50 every night, guess we can expect more of that. On my last flight out of there the ground controller was repeatedly admonishing an Alaska tug for transmitting on ground and tower at the same time with a thick and unintelligible accent, lol. Anyway, SFO is kind of fun since I never got to fly out of there in my RJ days.
 
Yeah, I always enjoy guessing which random pax widebody will be parked by us at Plot 50 every night, guess we can expect more of that. On my last flight out of there the ground controller was repeatedly admonishing an Alaska tug for transmitting on ground and tower at the same time with a thick and unintelligible accent, lol. Anyway, SFO is kind of fun since I never got to fly out of there in my RJ days.
Was it the fuss bucket?

(rush hour at SFO)
"Ground, we missed Golf can we take Hotel?"
"OH. MY. GOD. You idiot. You retarded idiot. (squeeelch) Great. Just great. Well NOW you have no choice to (squeeeeelch) take Golf. So yeah. Do that...(squeeeeelch) AND THANK YOU FOR THE GREAT JOB".

That's always funny. For me.
 
I don't know but it was even funnier because the ground controller had a stuck mic for about 90 seconds after they administered the tongue lashing. I'm starting to appreciate the convenience of a 28R departure when offered.
 
Was it the fuss bucket?

(rush hour at SFO)
"Ground, we missed Golf can we take Hotel?"
"OH. MY. GOD. You idiot. You retarded idiot. (squeeelch) Great. Just great. Well NOW you have no choice to (squeeeeelch) take Golf. So yeah. Do that...(squeeeeelch) AND THANK YOU FOR THE GREAT JOB".

That's always funny. For me.
I'm assuming that's the guy that the last time I was there scolding almost every single airplane in one big tyrade on ground, then there was maybe a couple seconds of silence where I was incredibly tempted to key up and say "Who was that for?"
 
Culturally, out here in the Bay Area we're pretty laid back about flexing authority. At all levels of the airport, I've noticed you have to pretty much almost actually kill people or write off a jet to get in trouble. That, or make a crack about me being unprofessional on the radio for handing you off with a "toodles", then return to the hub and cut off a pushing plane NORDO in front of some airport ops trucks. Then I'll get your ass(you can totally say ass on here).

That or...not call ramp and taxi do your gate anyways. Tootles.
 
I was sitting eating my $15 tuna melt when I overheard the guy next to me opine that the pilot "missed" the calls because he wanted to save the airline's fuel.

It took some serious breathing exercises not to choke on my sammich.
 
Exclusive: Air Canada to conduct ‘immediate safety review’ following SFO close calls

  • Following two alarming close-calls at San Francisco International Airport last year, Air Canada has agreed to an immediate safety review of its entire operations, including increased pilot training and a closer look at the airline’s arrivals and departures at SFO, the Bay Area News Group has learned.
  • Aimer said he believes fatigue played a role in both Air Canada incidents at SFO. In July, an Air Canada nearly landed on four passenger jets awaiting takeoff after the flight crew mistook a crowded taxiway for its intended runway. In October, an Air Canada plane ignored repeated orders from the tower to abort its landing because air traffic controllers feared a different plane was still on the runway. The Air Canada plane landed safely, and later explained that it was having problems with its radio.
 
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