Passenger jet's brush with disaster at US airport

A passenger jet came within metres of disaster at San Francisco airport, US air safety officials have confirmed.

Footage released by the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) this week showed an Air Canada flight flying as close as three metres over another aircraft as it prepared to land.

San Francisco International Airport officials said the near miss over one of the runways in July 2017 has since lead to safety improvements, reports US-based ABC News.

The NTSB is still investigating how the Air Canada plane almost entered a packed runway until climbing away at the last minute.

Footage from the airport CCTV system showed the Airbus A-320 as it descended just before midnight on July 7 last year.

Officials say the plane was cleared to land on a runway but actually lined up to land on a busy taxiway, where several planes packed with passengers were awaiting take-off.

In the video, the Air Canada jet’s land lights illuminate the fuselage of one of four planes on the taxi area.

Realising the potential disaster, air controllers instructed the pilot to abort the landing and climb immediately.

In a report by the US Federal Aviation Authority, safety experts found three of the five close-calls involving aircraft reported in the past 16 months at the busy airport were caused by pilots.