SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – It's happened again at SFO — airplane landings are being repeatedly aborted and frustrated pilots are speaking out about the over-crowded runways.
On May 12, the pilot of a United Airlines flight was ordered by SFO's control tower to abort his landing twice, what’s known as a "go around."
After the second aborted landing, the pilot was irritated, asking the tower "what's going on? That's twice."
He then told the air traffic controllers, "This is unacceptable, let's not do this again."
There were at least three other aborted landings in May. A passenger on one of the planes told KCBS Radio they had to pull up to avoid colliding with another plane that was taking off. It was a "very close call."
"There was one a few years ago where Air Canada almost landed on a taxi-way full of airplanes, pulled up at the last minute," said aviation analyst Michael Boyd.
Boyd said the problem is not necessarily with SFO. Instead, the nation's air traffic control system is out of date, understaffed and undermanaged.
"We do need to have an air traffic control system that's a whole lot better or there's going to be something ugly that could happen in the future," he warned.
KCBS Radio reached out to the Federal Aviation Administration, who stated that the aborted landings were most likely routine.
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