SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is probing a landing incident involving an Air Canada plane that could have caused an air crash at San Francisco International Airport Sunday night, local media reported Tuesday.
FAA spokesman Ian Gregor, quoted by local media, said it seemed that the crew of Flight 781, an Airbus A 320 of Air Canada, failed to receive a go-around instruction from airport control tower to avoid a possible collision with an aircraft on the ground.
Air traffic control cleared Flight 780 to land on Runway 28R and the Air Canada crew acknowledged the instruction when they were about six miles (10 kilometers) away from the airport, Gregor said.
"The tower controller subsequently instructed the Air Canada crew multiple times to execute a go-around because he was not certain that a preceding arrival would be completely clear of the runway before the Air Canada jet reached the runway threshold," he added.
A supervisor then used a red light gun to alert the Air Canada flight to go around after the air crew was not responding to radio instructions.
A flashing red light is a standard protocol that means it is not safe to land at the airport.
Sunday's airport mishap was attributed to a possible communication breakdown during the landing.
Upon landing, the Air Canada crew told the tower they had a radio problem while they were approaching the San Francisco airport.
This is the second air incident involving Air Canada in less than four months at San Francisco International Airport.
In July, an Air Canada jet with hundreds of passengers aboard was almost hitting an aircraft on the ground when it was about to land in a wrong area where there were four other planes.
The Canadian pilots were instructed to abort their landing and circle above the airport before a safe landing later.
