Insurance commissioner demands answers regarding airline mishap

Official wants airline to clarify what happened on one flight that nearly led to a fatal crash

Insurance commissioner demands answers regarding airline mishap

Risk Management News

By Lyle Adriano

The insurance commissioner of California is demanding answers from an airline after passengers on board a flight nearly crashed into another plane two weeks ago – a flight that the commissioner himself was on.

Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones is requesting that Air Canada explain to all passengers on board that fateful July 07 flight what went wrong as the plane descended on San Francisco International Airport (SFO).

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On that day, the pilot in charge of Air Canada flight 759 was cleared to land just before midnight at SFO. During the landing procedure, the plan almost landed on a taxiway parallel to the runway, where four planes were ready for takeoff. According to a report by the National Transportation Safety Board, the pilot had descended to less than 100 feet above ground and flew the plane dangerously close over the first aircraft ready for takeoff, before pulling up to safety.

Following the incident, Jones took to Twitter to express his thoughts.

“Close call!” he posted online. “We almost landed on four other planes.”

Jones later sent a letter to Air Canada, calling on the airline company to tell passengers what had happened.

“As the plane was close to landing, it suddenly went into a steep climb and we heard the sound of the plane’s jet engines increase significantly. The plane climbed over the airport and swung around to make another approach,” Jones said in a letter sent July 14.

“Passengers were not told that the plane had almost landed on a taxiway on which there were four other planes fully loaded with passengers and fuel. Instead, the pilot made a nonchalant announcement that he had to go around due to traffic at the airport.”

The commissioner urged safety regulators to conduct a “thorough and complete” investigation and that the airline company involved cooperate with the enquiry. He also asked Air Canada to “inform all of the passengers of the flight as to the results of its and aviation regulators’ investigations, and of the steps taken to prevent such a disaster in the future.”


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