As an aviation geek, I love listening to air traffic control audio, and the VASAviation YouTube channel does an incredible job picking up on some of the more interesting interactions that happen. Along those lines, a recent event at San Diego International Airport (SAN) gave me a good chuckle.
Sure, planes can fly through the sky at incredibly fast speeds. But needing to back up even a few feet, when they get too close to one another on the ground? Well, that can pose a real challenge…
Planes get trapped on San Diego Airport taxiway
San Diego Airport has complicated logistics. It has a single runway, and taxiways and terminal space on both sides of the runway. So not only does the airport only have a single runway to work with, but you also constantly have planes needing to cross the runway.
February 7, 2025, was an especially challenging day for operations at the airport, as there was heavy fog, along with winds changing directions. Runways obviously go in two directions, so in San Diego, you have runway 9 and runway 27 (depending on whether you’re using it in the easterly or westerly direction).
At the time, planes were landing on runway 9, into the east. However, many planes couldn’t actually depart on that runway, due to the unfavorable wind conditions, which were above operating limits. At the same time, visibility wasn’t initially good enough to use runway 27, into the west. So you had some planes landing on runway 9, while you had other planes lining up for runway 27, waiting for conditions to improve marginally, as it was their only option for departing.
That brings us to this messy situation, which essentially blocked parts of the taxiway for nearly an hour. You can watch the entire eight-minute VASAviation clip for yourself below, as it’s quite entertaining.
Long story short, a Lufthansa Airbus A350 arriving from Munich (MUC) and a JetBlue Airbus A321 scheduled to depart to Boston (BOS) got stuck nose-to-nose on a taxiway, completely blocking off the area. The Lufthansa jet had just landed on runway 9, while the JetBlue jet was hoping for conditions to improve, so it could take off on runway 27.
The assumption was that there would be enough room for the Lufthansa A350 to pass the JetBlue A321 on a taxiway, but there didn’t end up being enough space. As you might expect, all parties were quite frustrated when they realized what was happening, as most modern planes have no way to reverse without tugs. So then a tug had to be called, and that’s never a quick process.
I just generally found this clip to be very entertaining to listen to (non-aviation geeks will probably feel differently):
- Everyone on the frequency is pretty well behaved and patient, all things considered
- You can just hear the frustration in the controller’s voice, and the extent to which he understandably probably wants to crawl under his desk and take a break
- Probably my favorite things is how at the very end, the pilot of American 1049 chimes in and points out “if we keep pushing airplanes, we’re never gonna get out of the spot we’re in here, to get to the other side and get in the line,” to which the controller has a long pause and says “yes, I’m very well aware of that” (like, no $*@#, Sherlock!)
Ultimately the Lufthansa’s A350 arrival at the terminal was delayed considerably. Meanwhile the JetBlue A321 ended up having to return to a gate due to the tarmac delay rule. Rather than landing in Boston at 8:35PM, the plane instead landed at 4:12AM the following morning. That’s rough.
I can totally see how this situation could happen
Some people are suggesting that the air traffic controller should’ve avoided this situation, by checking with the Lufthansa and JetBlue pilots before the Lufthansa plane made the right turn onto the taxiway, causing it to be stuck.
While that would’ve been nice, I can also see exactly how this happened. The priority was probably to get the plane off the active runway as soon as possible, and I imagine that the controller thought there would be enough space for the plane to pass on the taxiway. I’m guessing this wouldn’t have been an issue if the plane coming off the runway were a narrow body, so it was probably a combination of factors here that caused this.
Ultimately all’s well that ends well, though it’s the perfect example of what a tough airport San Diego is.
Bottom line
San Diego Airport had a rough day on February 7, as limited visibility and variable winds greatly limited operations at the airport. What was perhaps trickiest was when a Lufthansa A350 taxied off the runway, near where a JetBlue A321 was waiting for takeoff. There wasn’t enough room for the two planes to clear one another, so a tug had to be called out to assist.
The controller in this situation gave me a good laugh. While everyone is patient (well, at least while on frequency — I’d love to hear the conversation happening in the flight deck between the two JetBlue pilots!), you can just hear the frustration in his voice.
What do you make of this San Diego Airport situation?
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