A near catastrophe at the San Francisco International Airport was averted due to a pilot’s quick thinking after an air traffic controller seemed to give the wrong direction to a United Airlines pilot. 

On June 24, the pilot on United Airlines Flight 1111 was preparing to take off when an air traffic controller gave the direction to ‘cross runway 1L, cross runway 1R,’ according to recordings from Live Air Traffic. 

The recording was shared on YouTube by VASAviation and has already racked up thousands of views. 

The audio revealed that as the United pilot received the direction to cross, a pilot with Air Canada Flight 760 on Airbus A220 was given the direction to take off from runway 1 right. 

As the Air Canada plane moved down the runway another United pilot received the direction to take off behind it. 

The United 1111 pilot then informed the air traffic controller that they were ‘holding short’ on the right runway. 

‘United 1111, I know, hold short of 1R,’ the controller responded. 

‘No, you gave us a cross; United 1111,’ the pilot said. 

A United Airlines pilot asked for clarification from an air traffic controller, which potentially stopped a runway collision at San Francisco International Airport (file photo) 

The pilot could be heard telling the controller that he was told to cross instead of hold before takeoff (file photo) 

The audio recording revealed that the air traffic controller originally told the pilot to ‘cross’ instead of ‘hold’ on the runway 

‘United 1111, I told you: cross 1L, hold short of 1R,’ the controller said. 

However, earlier in the recording, the controller could be heard telling the pilot to cross on runway 1R instead of holding. 

The controller didn’t respond after the pilot informed him of his mistake. Since the pilot asked for clarification, the crisis seemed to be averted.

However, if the United 1111 plane had crossed over on runway 1R, it would’ve collided with the Air Canada flight, which was preparing for takeoff as well. 

The incident occurred at 8am as the United plane, a Boeing 737 MAX 8, was preparing for a flight to Hawaii, and the Air Canada plane, Airbus A220-300 (twin-jet, was taking off for Montreal. 

‘The flight crew of United Airline Flight 1111 held short of Runway 1-Right at San Francisco International Airport because Air Canada Flight 760 and United Airlines Flight 784 were departing the same runway,’ a spokesperson for the Federal Aviation Administration told Daily Mail.

‘The required separation was maintained. The FAA is investigating the incident that occurred around 8:45 a.m. local time on Tuesday, June 24.’

Daily Mail reached out to the San Francisco International Airport for comment. 

The FAA said they were investigating the incident that occurred while an Air Canada and a United Airlines flight prepared to takeoff from San Francisco (file photo) 

Although it’s unclear what led to the apparent miscommunication, a decrease in air traffic controllers has been a consistent concern from aviation experts. 

Federal data revealed that the number of air traffic controllers has decreased by 9 percent from 2013 to 2024. 

While the number of controllers has fallen, airline passenger traffic has gone up to 27 percent, representing a disproportionate amount of staff to keep up with airline demand. 

Air traffic is only expected to increase, with the FAA previously estimating that they’ll need to hire at least 3,000 more controllers.