Air Canada Jet Nearly Lands On Taxiway At San Francisco International Airport

SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT (CBS News) -- The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating a close call at San Francisco International Airport involving a plane nearly landing on a crowded taxiway.

It was just before midnight on Friday when other pilots sounded the alarm and possibly prevented a horrific accident.

Air Canada flight 759 with 140 people on board was coming in front Toronto. The Airbus A320 was cleared to land on runway 28R at SFO, but instead lined up with a taxiway that parallels the runway.

There were four other airliners on that taxiway waiting to take off.

Air traffic control audio captured what happened next:

Air Canada pilot: Tower Air Canada 759 I can see lights on the runway there. Can you confirm we're clear to land?

Control tower: Air Canada 759 confirmed cleared to land on 28R. There is no one on 28R but you.

Air Canada pilot: Okay 759

Unknown: Where is this guy going? He's on the taxiway!

Control tower: Yeah, I saw that guys.

The tower ordered the Air Canada pilot to abort the landing.

The FAA is now investigating how close that Air Canada jet got to the planes on the ground on taxiway C.

Air Canada says the flight eventually landed safely. The airline is also looking into what happened.

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