FAA: No landing scare for Phils at airport

The Phillies were never in any real danger as they returned to Philadelphia Friday morning on their chartered flight after dropping two of three games to the Giants in San Francisco, officials said.

The chartered 747 carrying the team was approaching Philadelphia International Airport about 6 a.m. when the pilot aborted the landing because another aircraft was still on the runway, according to the FAA.

An air traffic controller "took the appropriate action" when he directed the pilot flying the Phillies' plane to make a "go-around," said FAA spokesman Jim Peters.

Delta flight 8891 then banked, ascended to a higher altitude, and flew out 20 miles before making the approach again, Peters said. The Fightins landed without incident.

"It was an inconvenience for the passengers, but it was done for their safety," Peters said. "We don't want one plane landing on a runway that's occupied by another."

The procedure is common, Peters said, and occurs every day. Most often, a go-around occurs when high winds are bedeviling an airport. Pilots can call for a go-around at their discretion if they spot something on the runway. Another cause for a go-around is, well, what caused the Phillies to arrive a few minutes later than expected: Another aircraft on the runway.

Only one runway was in operation as the Phils flight was scheduled to land because of construction, said airport spokeswoman Victoria Lupica. Runway 27-Right was being used for both arrivals and takeoffs.

The archived radio transmissions, at www.LiveATC, tell the story:

The tower controller had directed several departing flights into position. An Air Wisconsin flight was first to take off. Then the control order American 1209 to taxi into position for departure.

At the same time, the Phillies were on their descent and about four to five miles away from the airport.

The American flight was slow to taxi onto the runway. Peters said the American pilot radio'd the tower: "The guy on final [approach] looks awfully close."

The controller asked the American pilot to stay behind a "short line" but the plane had already crossed it. The controller, raising his voice, orders the plane to hurry across the runway.

"At some point you hear a curse word, not by the controller, but by somebody else in the work area. Somebody else says 'wow!' " Peters said. "Unfortunately, [when someone reads that in a transcript] that lends itself to hype."

By the time the Phillies pilot made the go-around, the second runway, 27-Left, had reopened. The tower offered the pilot the option to land on the 27-Left runway. The pilot declined.

Was this a close call?

"Those planes were nowhere near each other," Lupica said.

The FAA's Peters agreed.

"This was a nonevent," Peters said. "Everything was done according to the book. There's no investigation and no violation of any kind of FAA standards."