I am indebted to a reader who identified themselves simply as “Researcher” when leaving the following comment.
I had intended to post this earlier, but it was apparently lost in yesterday’s preparations.
I’m not an aviation expert, so please verify the data below before making conclusions.
ADS-B Exchange appears to show the other flight was a CRJ-200 operated by SkyWest as Flight 5974 from Fresno Yosemite International Airport. At about 3:16 pm PDT, United 373 and SkyWest 5974 were both approaching the airport at an altitude of about 1075 feet. It appears United 373 was gaining on the SkyWest, since it was traveling about 24 knots faster. SkyWest was to the front right of the United.
According to the Wikipedia entry for SFO, “aircraft may safely land side-by-side essentially simultaneously on 28L and 28R while maintaining visual separation.”
Here’s a screenshot of the track from ADS-B Exchange:
You can view the data at this link, but use an adblocker. You’ll probably want to hit the pause button and reduce the playback speed to 1.2x or so:
https://globe.adsbexchange.com/?replay=2026-03-21-22:16&icao=ad1da9&lat=37.586&lon=-122.300&zoom=14.3
Discover more from i L i n d
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
I went to liveatc.net again. I corrected the time to 2200 utc/zulu. There are KSFO tower and approach feeds. One hands off to the other. I located the flight on final approach at about 2220. Everything sounded fine. However, if there was a go around, I may have just been listening to the second approach. An earlier time needs to be listened to.
I am so thankful that the United Airlines pilots decided to ‘pull up and go around’ – instead of a supposedly safe ‘side-by-side’ alternative, on the day that the Ian and Meda Lind’s were passengers…
This mystery is driving me crazy. What I could figure out is that flights are talking to approach control on the approach frequency and then get handed off to the tower on the separate tower frequency. They are reporting to the tower over the “bridge” which I take it to mean the San Mateo bridge and they are cleared to land on 28L OR 28R shortly thereafter. Some are cleared for a tip toe approach which I take it to mean they can switch to the runway closer to the ramp because they are the only aircraft inbound and they want that runway. I was able to listen to the pilot of your flight talking to the tower on the liveatc archive and all seemed normal. Maybe the archived flight path you have posted is the second approach after the go around. My pilot experience is from decades ago without an instrument rating, so I couldn’t give a good guess on the time for the go around. I have tried listening to earlier recordings and didn’t find anything. The free audio will expire soon. I hope another reader can post the audio of your pilot or the tower indicating a go around. By the sound of the voice of your pilot, everything seemed routine on the approach I heard.
Here’s what I found by doing some additional internet research. By the way, I have no training or experience as a pilot or air traffic controller, although I’ve flown to SFO quite a few times.
In any event, one can go to LiveATC.net and listen to or download the archived air traffic control recordings for SFO for March 21, 2026. The archives are in half hour segments. After what seems to be a routine clearance to land, the archive for “SFO Tower” has a very cryptic communication from UA 373 a little more than halfway through the recording covering the time period beginning at 2200Z (Zulu or UTC time which is 3 pm SFO time). UA373 indicates that he’s going around although I couldn’t really tell what was being said by listening. In response, the tower controller tells UA373 to fly the runway heading and eventually to contact NorCal Approach.
If you review the archive for NorCal Approach for the period starting again at 2200Z, at around 23:45 into the recording the controller asks UA373 to say the reason for the go around and UA373 replies that they were responding to an RA. An RA is apparently a Resolution Advisory from the ACAS system (Airborne Collision Avoidance System), which is an onboard aviation safety system designed to prevent mid-air collisions by independently detecting nearby aircraft and advising pilots on avoidance maneuvers.
Although two planes landing on parallel runways is pretty routine at SFO with the aircraft required to maintain visual separation, the instructions with respect to ACAS Resolution Advisories is to do what the RA says. So even though UA373 was supposed to maintain visual separation from the other aircraft and even if that visual separation was still being maintained by UA373, when the RA was given by ACAS, the crew of UA373 was obliged to follow it.
Hope your health issues get resolved favorably.
Fantastic sleuthing! Thank you.
This is very encouraging news Ian. Best wishes for your continued recovery and safe travels home.