Audio has captured the moment an Air Canada flight came close to causing one of the greatest disasters in aviation history.
Flight AC759 was flying into San Francisco International Airport when it almost landed on four other passenger planes parked on the taxiway.
Pilots and tower operators can be heard communicating during the incident that occurred at 11:56pm on Friday (US Time) when the Air Canada pilot became confused on his flight path.
International flights landing at SFO are directed to either 28R or 28L, referred to in the audio as "28-Right" and "28-Left".
The pilot of the Air Canada flight can be heard asking SFO controllers if he's heading towards the right runway.
"Tower control, I just want to confirm that this is Air Canada 759, I can see some lights on the runway there, across the runway, can you confirm we're good to land?"
"Canada 759, confirmed to land on runway 28-Right, there is no one on 28-Right but you."
The pilot was not lined up for Air Canada's designated runway, but instead the taxiway where the other planes were waiting to take off.
One of the pilots waiting on the ground anxiously interjects, "Where is this guy going? He's on the Taxiway!"
The Air Canada flight is told to "go around" by tower control to avoid any disaster.
"Air Canada flew directly over us," another pilot said.
The tower replies again, "Yeah, I saw that guys."
The actions of the tower to divert the Air Canada flight saved close to a thousand lives of those that were on board the five planes.
Retired United Airlines captain Ross Aimer, CEO of Aero Consulting Experts said: "If you could imagine an Airbus colliding with four passenger aircraft wide bodies, full of fuel and passengers, then you can imagine how horrific this could have been."
"If it is true, what happened probably came close to the greatest aviation disaster in history,"
Investigations have been launched by the Federal Aviation Administration and Air Canada.
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