The image at top shows the configuration of Runways 28L and 28R, and Taxiway C at San Francisco International Airport. The “X” at the threshold of 28L indicates that runway was closed. The bottom image shows the four airliners that were lined up on Taxiway C as Air Canada Flight 759 approached. Source: NTSB
The pilots of an Air Canada Airbus A320 that lined up to land on occupied Taxiway C at San Francisco International Airport instead of on parallel Runway 28R to which they were cleared told the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in post-incident interviews that they believed the lighted runway on their left was Runway 28L and that they were lined up for the proper runway. They also told investigators that they did not recall seeing aircraft on Taxiway C, “but that something did not look right to them,” NTSB said in an investigative update released Wednesday.
