The National Transport Safety Board has urged Canada to adopt more stringent rules to combat pilot fatigue after the safety agency blamed two Air Canada pilots for the closest ever near-miss incident at a US airport.
The agency says pilots of the Air Canada jet were confused as one parallel runway was closed as the jet approached at San Francisco International Airport.
The jet lined up to land on a crowded taxiway in error and only aborted seconds from a major catastrophe.
The taxiway was lined with aircraft waiting clearance to take off.
Impact was just a few feet away.
"We could not have gotten, literally or figuratively, any closer to having a major disaster," NTSB vice-chairman, Bruce Landsberg, said.
The NTSB cited pilot error and fatigue as factors.
NTSB chairman Robert Sumwalt, urged Canadian authorities to improve rules to combat pilot fatigue in line with US and European standards, ‘so that we do not have to relearn the lessons of this incident at a far greater cost.’
Matt Hogan, chair of the Air Canada Pilots Association also called for improvements to flight crew work patterns and rest periods.
In a list of other recommendations, the NTSB called for improved lighting at airports after dark when one of more runways are off-limits and the development of technology to alert when a plane appears to line up to land on a taxiway by mistake.
The incident led to a change in rules when one of the runways is closed and improved night time staffing levels at San Francisco air traffic control.
