Huge kudos to the United Airlines pilots here, and you also can’t help but feel a bit bad for the air traffic controller’s high workload and obvious fatigue…
SFO ATC gives wrong instructions to United 737
VASAviation has the air traffic control audio and a visual recreation of an incident that happened on the morning of June 24, 2025, at San Francisco International Airport (SFO). While SFO’s runway layout is great for maximizing space, it’s kind of awful in terms of the frequency with which runways have to be crossed while taxiing, especially for such a congested airport.
In this incident, you have one air traffic controller working tower, who was clearly overworked. He was giving takeoff and landing clearance, giving instructions for after takeoff, and was also clearing taxiing planes to cross active runways.
Runway 1R was the primary runway being used for takeoff, with one takeoff after the other. United flight UA1111, a Boeing 737 MAX 8 bound for Lihue (LIH), was given taxi instructions, which were read back correctly:
Controller: “United 1111, San Francisco tower. At F, cross runway 1L, cross runway 1R.”
United pilot: “Cross runway 1L and cross 1R on F, United 1111.”
The instructions were clear, and the United pilot read those instructions back correctly. There was only one problem — the controller clearly didn’t actually mean what he said, and wasn’t focused enough to listen to the read back.
While the United 737 taxies, two different sets of planes are cleared for takeoff from runway 1R. Obviously that poses a major issue — you don’t want to clear planes to takeoff from a runway that another plane is also cleared to taxi across.
Fortunately the United pilots had stellar situational awareness. They crossed runway 1L, and then decided to hold short of runway 1R, and check in with air traffic control:
United pilot: “United 1111, holding short 1R.”
Controller: “United 1111, I know, hold short of 1R.”
United pilot: “No, you gave us a cross, United 1111.”
Controller: “United 1111, I told you cross 1L, hold short of 1R.”
The United pilots didn’t argue further. After holding a moment longer, they were cleared to cross the runway, and the flight continued without incident.
What can we learn from this incident?
The United pilots handled this situation perfectly. They read back the instructions correctly, while maintaining situational awareness, and not just blindly following the instructions they were given.
They also politely checked in with the controller while holding short of runway 1R. They clearly realized something wasn’t right, so they took the politest approach imaginable to nudging the air traffic controller. The controller had a bit of an attitude with the pilots (“I know”), but they kept their calm, and the pilot didn’t argue with the controller. He was more focused on safety than being right.
The fundamental issue here is that the controller not only gave incorrect instructions, but the pilot actually read it back correctly, and the controller didn’t notice. Typically when we see a plane enter the runway at the wrong time, it’s because something isn’t read back correctly, or instructions aren’t followed correctly.
The thing is, you also can’t help but feel bad for the controller. He sounds exhausted, and he’s rattling off one instruction after the other. Imagine having to be right with every single instruction that comes out of your mouth, with hundreds of lives being on the line.
I imagine the controller didn’t even pay attention to what was being read back, because he was already so focused on giving the next instruction to another plane.
Bottom line
There was a close call at SFO, as a United 737 was cleared to cross a runway that was being used for takeoffs, with multiple planes being given takeoff clearance. Fortunately the United pilots had good situational awareness, and held short of the runway.
The controller clearly didn’t realize the instructions he had given the pilots, because he had a bit of an attitude when they even checked in to share that they were holding short of the runway. You can’t help but feel bad for him, though, given his workload.
What do you make of this SFO runway incident?
