“On May 13, a United Airlines plane made a wrong turn during takeoff, nearly colliding with a SkyWest flight at San Francisco International Airport.” (ABC7 News Bay Area).
San Francisco KSFO Airport was departing airplanes from the closely spaced parallel runways 1L and 1R (runways 1 left and 1 right). United Airlines Flight 1152 was cleared to take off from runway 1R. A few seconds later, SkyWest Flight 5273 (operating as United Express) was cleared to take off from runway 1L. This is normally a safe situation as the airplane taking off on runway 1R would follow a standard instrument departure directing it to turn to the right, and the airplane on the left runway would be directed to fly straight out or turn to the left.
But on this occasion, the United flight turned left, cutting in front of the SkyWest flight. The SkyWest CRJ flight was likely very startled by an Airbus 320 turning across their flight path directly in front of them. The SkyWest pilots maneuvered their airplane away from the United flight, coming within 280 feet vertically. There was an immediate breakdown in communication with ATC, trying to figure out where the United flight was going, and the United flight hadn’t yet realized its mistake. ATC was quick to get the United flight back on a heading away from other traffic, but the United flight crew still sounded confused as to what had happened.
United Flight 1152 was assigned to fly the TRUKN TWO DEPARTURE. This is a Standard Instrument Departure or SID that provides route, altitude, and traffic separation during the departure phase of the flight. This SID directs the pilots to fly the runway heading (014 degrees) until reaching 520 feet, then to turn right, direct to TYDYE Intersection on a 043 degrees course. United did not do this.
It appears that United Flight 1152 may have set their initial heading to 284 degrees, causing their turn in the wrong direction. This may have happened because of briefing the wrong departure procedure from a different runway, or by being originally assigned to depart runway 28L and then having their runway changed to runway 1R by ATC. Setting up the heading bug to 284 degrees or loading the procedure in a Flight Management System (FMS) for a different runway would have directed them to turn left to a heading of 284 degrees.
After being handed off to NORCAL Approach (North California Approach), United was provided a telephone number to call after they landed for a possible pilot deviation. This is what no pilot ever wants to hear. Even though near midair collisions and runway incursions are on the FAA and NTSB watch list, there seems to be no sign of slowing the rate down, with 1,740 runway incursions in 2024, and many near midair collisions.
