Southwest Pilot Causes Chaos at SFO

United 277 go around. Alaska 553 go around. — In my professional career, I have done a few go-arounds while I was in flight school. Done a few goounds while I was flying commercial jets. And I don't ever know of any situation of which I've caused someone to do a go-around. Now that I said that, I'm sure my flight tomorrow I will cause somebody to do a goound. However, this Southwest pilot or these pilots caused two planes to do two goarounds from two separate runways in the most unlikely fashion that you would ever imagine. Southwest causing anybody to do a goound based on their reputation. Check this out. — 1826 for the heading runway left. Take off 1179. The approach cross 28 left. Runway 28 right. at cross 28 left line up and wait runway 28 right southwest 1179. — All this is taking place in San Francisco which is a pretty busy airport and a pretty busy airspace. San Francisco is also an airport with two of the closest parallel runway approaches which creates some pretty cool shots like this one. And I was told that earlier this year they canled being able to do those sidebyside approaches which is relevant for this reason. According to the internet machine, 28 left and 28 right are 750 ft apart. And Southwest was given a clearance after United took off to cross 28 left and line up and wait on 28 right, which means that you're going to be the next plane to line up on that runway. You're the next plane taking off from that runway. And this pilot obviously understood what was going on because they read back the clearance correctly. — Cross 28 left. Line up and wait runway 28 right southwest 1179. Now, among the things that you as a passenger might know Southwest for, it could be like their quirky fun flight attendants doing wrapping or different briefings in different ways or their fun antics that they do while they're in flight or what used to be the ability to pick your own seat. There's a bunch of different things that Southwest was really known for. Their culture is obviously starting to change a little bit, but that's something you as a passenger might know them for. However, pilots often refer to Southwest when they see planes taxing really, really fast. They'll say like, "Oh, they're taxing at Southwest speeds. " Or, "Oh, there goes Southwest as a plane goes barreling down the taxi way. " Because Southwest from the pilot's perspective are known for taxing exorbitantly fast. So, when I heard this clearance from the controller about crossing 28 left and lining up on 28 right, I imagined they'd be going at southwest speed and they would be there momentarily, especially considering that it is one of the closest parallel runways in the entire system inside the US. Obviously, if they had done that, we wouldn't have this video. Check out what happens. 246 Papa Hotel right 246 right — and uh United 277 going around — traffic will be a right turn to the north 24 011 runway 28 right for takeoff 277 on the go — 277 go around — on the go out of 700 — United 277 turn left heading 260 6 maintain 3,100. — 260 and maintain 3,600 United 277. — United 277 maintain 3,100. — 3,100 United 377. — I have no idea who's teaching phrasiology over at United, but they need some help. That has nothing to do with this video, though. the controller while they're giving instructions to Southwest to take off or I'm suspecting that is the case. United's telling the controller that they're going around, they're stepping on each other, meaning two people are transmitting at the same time. It sounded like United started transmitting first and then the controller just started transmitting over them. But either way, that's called stepping on somebody. — 277 going around — traffic will be a right turn. You also heard in the background while the controller was talking, you heard an automated thing that was up in the tower telling the controller somebody you needed to do a goound. — 411 runway 28 right — clear for takeoff. — Obviously that was United deciding that they were going to do the go-around. They had already made the decision before the automated thing came out and before the control even told them to do a go round, which is 100% the correct move from the pilots. If air traffic control is telling you do a goound and the automated system is telling them to go do a goound. There's obviously something going on there. They made the safest decision to do the goaround. Not 100% sure on the phraseiology though. However, listen to this clip here and you're going to hear the background audio where they're actually telling the air traffic controller to tell United to do the goound. — 011 right for takeoff. — That's just a redundancy that's there in case that controller is distracted. They're not seeing what's going on. maybe a visibility issue. Obviously, none of those things were a factor today, but you have a redundancy that's there just like an automation that you have while you're flying. There's redundancies in case a human makes an

error, the automation picks it up and then the human has to make the decision there. Obviously, the United made the decision to go around. The controller told them to go around and the automated machine was telling them to go around. Now, I'm not there, but according to some things I read on the internet, and based off of the fact that they had just given Southwest a clearance to taxi across the runway, my guess is that they were on the runway. Southwest saw them on Southwest was still on the runway. United saw them on the runway, decided to do the goound. The automated system saw there was a plane on the runway. that was close to landing, and so it was telling the controller to tell them to do a goound. I'm guessing based off of what I read on the internet and what I can hear from this audio, that's what's happened. Now, again, Southwest is known for taxing really fast. So, this is the first thing that was a little bit strange. Now, if you listen closely to this part, you can actually hear Southwest being given the clearance for takeoff. I'm not 100% sure of it because it was blocked, but they were told to line up and wait 28 right. So when the controller says this, — 011 runway 28 right — clear for takeoff. — If I was in that southwest plane, I'd be hearing, okay, somebody got clear to take off 28 right. We're here supposed to be lined up and waiting on 28 right. That might have been for us. They didn't say anything. You also heard medevac coming in and medevac gets priority over every plane because they're usually flying um hearts or lungs or people uh that are in a critical condition, but a lot of times they're flying organs that need to get somewhere quickly. Obviously timesensitive. If you have a heart that's doing whatever it's doing in the machine box that the doctors put in there, you want to get it to that person as quickly as possible. It's a time-sensitive issue. So they get priority over everybody. So, you got Southwest over there lined up on the runway. I don't know, eating snacks or doing whatever they're doing. Uh, but somebody got cleared to take off 28, right? It was blocked. And in fairness, when I get a clearance to take off or to land or whatever, and they say my call sign wrong, I confirmed that is me. So if I was lined up on waiting on 28 right and I heard blah blah blocked and then cleared for takeoff runway 28 right, I would ask the question confirm Snacks airline 123 clear for takeoff 28 right and they would say affirmative and then they would repeat the clearance snacks 123 clear takeoff 28 right but right after that affirmative power would go up, lights would go on and off we'd go. we'd start the roll because now you have, especially in a place like San Francisco, traffic stacked up behind you. These guys got on there, the person got blocked. They just sat there and waited again knowing that you got a medevac coming in. You're lined up and waiting. You're in a busy airport. They just kind of left it there. Check out what happens next. — United Southwest 1179, are you departing? — We ne we never got that clearance. Somebody blocked it. — Okay, so you shouldn't be on the runway. Southwest 1179, exit at Charlie 2. Turn right on Charlie. Traff short final for that runway. — Charlie 2, Charlie for Southwest 1179. The last clearance we got was the whole line for Southwest 1179. — I don't need an argument on frequency. — Spicy. Well, instead of actually arguing with the pilots who are arguing about what clearance they got, she could have just said vacate the runway immediately, traffic short final. But instead, she decided to argue with them about the way that they were arguing with her. Now, I agree with her. That's a very stupid thing. And it's important to understand that there are while you have two pilots up there, one is moving the aircraft while the other one is talking. So, the fact that he is talking isn't necessarily inhibiting the plane moving. However, if the pilot said, "Hey, let's get off the runway really quick. " That would be the communication I'd be having with the person there, like, "Let's hustle off the runway. " not starting to talk with air traffic control about we didn't get our clearance yet. That it doesn't make sense. But she escalates the situation instead of deescalating it. She could have said, "Please vacate the runway. We got somebody on a onemile final. " And that might have caused the pilots to hurry up and get off the runway instead of them saying what they said. Watch what happens. — Alaska 553, go around. — Alaska 553 is going m uh fly runway heading and maintain 3000. — Runway heading 30,000. Lo, you like manec 246 pop hotel to slow — 6 pop hotel your discretion. Uh runway 28 right you are clear to land. Just use caution that two previous arrivals for both runways uh one around unknown reasons. — Thank you. — First I think it's great situational awareness from the medevac guy. He just heard the plane ahead of him went around. He's hearing there's some confusion going on as he's coming in. So he's offering to the air traffic controller to slow down because he doesn't want to go around. He wants to land. he's got somebody's heart or lungs or both uh on his plane and he wants to get on the ground. So, good situational awareness there. Uh Southwest uh obviously is busy arguing probably still inside the flight deck

about what's going on. Alaskan executed goound with great phrasiology and what is confusing to me is why the controller saying they went around for unknown reasons. — She cautioned that two previous arrivals for both runways uh went around unknown reasons. She literally told both of them to do a goound. — United 277 go around. Alaska 553 go around. — Here's the situation. You got United 1826 gets cleared to take off runway 28 left. As they're on the roll, Southwest is told to cross 28 left and line up and wait on 28 right. Instead of even going at normal speed, let alone southwest speed, they cross the runway apparently so slowly that the United plane coming in to land couldn't land. And something to keep in mind because obviously we I don't have the time sync on all this. There was obviously enough time for United to take off. So go all the way down the runway several thousand feet, get enough speed to get their plane off the ground, and Southwest was unable to cross the pavement and get to the other piece of pavement, which is 750 ft of space between the two of them. Not a large distance. Now, Southwest was given the clearance to do the takeoff from runway 28 right while at the same time blocking United 277 from actually landing, but since they didn't get their full call sign on their clearance for the takeoff, they decided to just casually roll over to the runway and just sit there. Now, everyone's got their own theory on it. I just heard a guy say the other day while we were flying, if we're unsure about the clearance, we'll have them verify the clearance and say it back to us. That's one way to do it. My personal preference is the reverse. I read the clearance that I think I was given to me. So that way that person just has to say yes or no. Part of the reason that I do that is for the language barrier. So if I say to them, confirm snacks 123, clear takeoff 28, right? They have to say affirmative. It's either affirmative or negative, a yes or a no, then they're going to read back the thing that it that they need to tell me whether I'm clear for takeoff or not clear for takeoff. But by me saying it exactly that way, it's on the flight deck uh cockpit voice recorder. It's there. It's on the tapes with air traffic control and they're going to say yes or no. It's a lot clearer and there's no confusion because of the language barrier. Some people prefer to make them say it again, but there are controllers in the world that sound like they have a mouthful of marbles. And I want to know that either yes, I get a go or no, I don't get a go. And if I say it in my very clean, neutral, maybe a little bit of a southern accent English, and they say yes, then we're going. That's the way I see it. So, while Southwest is technically not wrong for sitting on this runway and not wrong for taxing at the slowest possible speed, I've ever seen a Southwest plane taxi in all of my years of flying. When you hear a clearance on a runway that you're supposed to be taking off from next, like this — 411, runway 28, right? — Clear for takeoff. — Instead of saying blocked, which I'm just going to guess that that's them, they probably should have said, "Hey, confirm like I just said. " But somebody said blocked. I'm going to guess it's these pilots. And they just waited for the controller to tell that to them again, but the controller didn't. Maybe they didn't hear blocked. And blocked, I don't think, is an official thing. I don't really hear it anywhere else. I hear it inside the US, and I sometimes say it as well. Two people are talking at the same time. US airspace is busier than a lot of other airspace in the world. It's just the reality of what it is. But there is sometimes you have somebody says blocked and that is your indication that you're flying and you had just transmitted to transmit the next thing that you had just said or the last said. So that was their choice and they technically did nothing wrong by taxing very slow. There's no uh regulation on how fast you're supposed to taxi but normal speed there's an expectation and there was nothing wrong because they never officially got their clearance to do the takeoff from their runway. So, they weren't wrong for not taking off because their clearance was technically blocked, but there's some expectations again that you get if you hear a clearance to take off on your runway, just like if I was sitting on that runway and I heard cleared to land on 28, right? I'd be thinking, "Okay, well, hold on cuz I'm here on the runway, so I'm not technically wrong. I'm already on the runway. " But I would be asking a question like, "Hey, you just cleared somebody to land and we're sitting here on the runway. " That's all part of the situational awareness that you would expect or hope your pilots would have. but instead they chosen to sit there. Now you got Southwest on the runway. They're not going because they didn't ask who got the clearance. They got Alaska coming in on short final and Southwest been told to vacate the runway at Charlie 2. And you might be thinking, well, that could be a long ways down the runway, Kelsey. Maybe they couldn't make it there fast enough. They weren't busy eating snacks. However, Southwest was somewhere around 500 ft away from being able to vacate the runway. Not very far at all. But instead of hustling up to get off the runway to prevent another plane from going around, which two goarounds in like five minutes, pretty impressive on two different runways, they wanted to mention that they didn't get the official clearance. While technically true, a professional courtesy would be to hustle off the runway anytime you have a clearance like

that. There's a lot of times that we'll get a clearance to line up and wait, and we will hear a call going to the aircraft that's landing. They'll say caution wake turbulence 747 taking off um ahead of you whatever. And then they'll tell us on the clearance for our takeoff. Clear takeoff. Let's say 28 right. Clear takeoff 28 right. Traffic on a four mile final, three mile final, two-mile final, whatever it is that they tell us. That is not them. That is essentially them saying don't lolly gag and mess around over there. Like get going. And obviously it's again reading the room being situationally aware. you can see the plane that's coming in on final. So, if the controller is going to do you the favor of getting you on the runway so you can get on with your day and they say plane on a three- mile final, you know that you got to hustle up and get off. If you stop doing that, of all the pilots that started being very um unsituationally aware, the controllers would be forced to not do things like line you up and wait, and they would have you get vectorred in like if you were going into China, which is like, oh, you got to have like 15 miles of separation between a plane landing and you being able to take off. It's wildly frustrating if you're me and you're in a hurry because you can't really eat snacks while you're waiting for takeoff. It's like peanut butter and jellies all over your hands and now you can't do the throttles. It's a mess. So, they don't hustle off the runway. Alaska has to do their grow round. Meanwhile, you got medevac back here just wanting to get on the ground to get whatever they need to get off their plane and being very situationally aware by asking if he needs to slow down to make sure that he can land one time. He's also by doing that setting it up so that way the controller if let's say 28 left is an option could say uh hey uh 28 right is going to be blocked can you switch over to 28 left and a guy like a medevac flying probably a Lear or some other smaller aircraft should be able to easily slide over. We do it on the 747 occasionally. It's not very often that they even ask us to do it but uh usually on smaller planes they will have you side step slide over 750 ft. Yeah, no problem. Uh, so he could have easily done that by doing that slowdown call. He's uh I don't know if this is the official right way to say it, but uh that guy PJ, if you've been watching the channel for a while, you've heard me talk about PJ. He's got me saying this. He go he's pimping him by pimping him. He's saying, "Hey, uh, hey, we're you want to slow down 28 right? " He's basically pimping the controller to say, "Hey, if I can't do 28 right, like slide me over to 28 left, but I am still back here. " Just as a reminder, the controller obviously has Southwest getting off the runway. They can see that Alaska is going, so they're going to be fine to land, so it's not really a big deal. But that's great situation situational awareness from the medevac pilot. So the next time you're on a Southwest plane and you're looking out the window and watching other planes just fly past you while you're on the taxi way, realize that is what Southwest is known for, not the slowest taxiers in the whole wide world of San Francisco. I look forward to hearing from you.