Back on the 4th of July, I referenced the worst air crash in history in my post on Clipper Young America. As you may have read, just three days later an Air Canada A320 nearly landed on a taxiway at San Francisco International Airport, a taxiway on which there were four aircraft. Had it not aborted in literally the last few seconds, 7 July 2017 would likely have become the new date of the world’s worst aviation accident.
You may have also read that the aircraft was lower than 100 feet when it aborted, but just reading that probably didn’t give you the heebie-jeebies like this animation I just put together from the images in today’s NTSB update on the incident:
Yeah, that’s ACA 759’s landing lights illuminating UAL 1 and PAL 115 in the third frame.
In post-incident interviews, both incident pilots stated that, during their first approach, they believed the lighted runway on their left was 28L and that they were lined up for 28R. They also stated that they did not recall seeing aircraft on taxiway C but that something did not look right to them.
Pardon me, I’m just going for a little lie-down.
Oh Christ.. you had to show this. Here I am working out how to get to California to help my dad.. Yipes. 🙁
I think I’m going to peruse the Amtrak site now.
Sorry about that. As someone who went nearly coast-to-coast on the train, I can only advise you to go by air. My trip was around the time of the PATCO strike and I had made the Amtrak reservation for my return from L.A. to Boston just in case, but I was curious what that trip would be like, so I did it – some of it, anyway. The air traffic controller strike and Reagan’s mass-sacking did happen, but not until several days after my return trip.
The chief problem was that I didn’t sleep much on the Southwest Chief, especially on the 125mph leg – or so it felt – through Kansas. I had a “roomette” and so used the common bathroom and shower. A full bedroom might have made it more palatable, but I found 40+ hours sufficient. I ended up getting off in Chicago, where I had a nice dinner and stayed in a nice motionless hotel for the night before getting on an American flight to Boston next morning.
Huh…I just remembered that I got hit on during that train ride by someone who had just won a national book award – possibly with a capital N, B, and A on that, but I can’t recall – and was returning from the ceremony. I politely declined.
I will say, however, that the Pecos National Monument – now Historical Park – and the Sandia Mountains were some of the most beautiful places I’ve seen, and in that leg the train was traveling 25mph much of the time.