Korean carrier Asiana states that the crew of an Airbus A350 involved in a low-approach incident at San Francisco was aware of the situation before receiving an air traffic control warning.
The A350-900, inbound from Seoul on 23 February, had descended below the glidepath during its approach to runway 28L.
“Our flight crew recognised the low-altitude approach situation and had already decided to execute a go-around while simultaneously receiving information from air traffic control,” says a spokesperson for Asiana.
The type of approach being followed by the crew has not been confirmed.
It had been nearing the airport from the south, and instructed by approach control to fly a heading of 310° to intercept the 28L localiser.
The crew was also told to watch for a Virgin Atlantic Boeing 787 – inbound from the north and turning south for the parallel 28R – and to maintain visual separation.
After confirming that they had the 787 in sight, the Asiana crew replied that they would maintain visual separation, and descend to 2,600ft, according to air-ground communications archived by LiveATC.
Just before handing the A350 to the San Francisco tower, the controller reiterated that the 787 was heading for the right runway and the A350 to the left runway.
The tower controller cautioned the A350 over possible wake turbulence from the presence of the 787 on its right, gave the wind conditions as 290° at 5kt, and cleared the A350 to land.
Some 90s later the controller issued the altitude alert to the crew, instructing them to check the altimeter and giving the pressure setting as 30.26inHg (1025mb).
Circumstances leading to the altitude warning have yet to be clarified. After aborting its approach and conducting the go-around the A350 landed about 15min later.
Asiana says it will “review the operational conditions and continue our efforts to ensure safe operations”.
