FAA probes second Air Canada emergency landing at San Francisco airport

The US Federal Aviation Administration confirmed it has launched an investigation after an Air Canada jet failed to respond to air traffic control's repeated requests to abort its landing.

The incident occured Sunday night when Air Canada flight 781, an Airbus A320, wan preparing to land at SFO.

"After landing, the Air Canada crew told the tower they had a radio problem", Gregor said.

Air Canada flight 781 from Montreal was given initial clearance to land but the air traffic controller then gave six orders to "go around" and abort its landing because it believed another plane may still have been on the runway. The instruction is met with dead air.

He said the flight crew did not acknowledge any of the instructions and did also not respond to a red light gun flashed at the plane, which is standard protocol when a flight crew does not respond to radio instructions.

"After landing, the Air Canada crew told the tower they had a radio problem", Gregor said. The FAA said it is looking into the matter.

Nonetheless, the FAA is now investigating Sunday's breakdown in communication which is second unsafe incident involving an Air Canada flight at the same airport.

The incident took place Sunday evening at San Francisco International Airport.

This weekend's incident comes not long after an Air Canada flight on the same runway came within 100 feet of smashing into two planes waiting to leave. After receiving proper clearance to land it proceeded to do so and landed normally. "Upon landing the crew was informed the tower had attempted unsuccessfully to contact the aircraft, however the message was not received by the crew". The crew did not circle the airport - it simply landed on the original runway.

In July, an Air Canada jet descended toward a taxiway holding four other planes rather than its assigned runway.

In July, the pilot flying Air Canada Flight 759 from Toronto to San Francisco lined the plane up with a taxiway that ran parallel to runway 28R.

The jet still ended up coming in for a landing, although the runway happened to be clear.

In the meantime, the FAA issued new guidelines for nighttime landings and control tower staffing at San Francisco's airport. Only one controller was working during the Air Canada incident in July.