1988-07 · NASA ASRS report 91682
ACR LGT CLOSE ENCOUNTER WITH GOV LTT NEAR THE FINAL APCH FIX FOR RWY 28R AT SFO.
WE HAD BEEN CLRED FOR THE ILS 28R AT SAN FRANCISCO AND HAD INTERCEPTED LOC AND G/S. DSNDING THROUGH ABOUT 4000' ON G/S; APCH ASKED IF WE SAW A GOV LTT AT 12 O'CLOCK AT 1500'. WE SAW HIM AS RPTED; HE WAS E OF BRIJJ AND SBND. WE LOST SIGHT OF HIM AS HE PASSED UNDER TH NOSE; WE THEN ENTERED A CLOUD LAYER APCHING BRIJJ OUTER MARKER AT ABOUT 2000'. WHEN WE BROKE OUT BELOW THE CLOUD LAYER INSIDE BRIJJ AT ABOUT 1600'; THE LTT WAS ON OUR LEFT WING AT THE SAME ALT AND NO MORE THAN 100 OR 200' LATERALLY; PARALLELING OUR COURSE. WE HAD SWITCHED TO TWR FREQ AT BRIJJ; AND TWR ASKED IF WE STILL SAW THE GOV LTT. WE CONTINUED DOWN THE G/S; AND HE MAINTAINED LEVEL FLT; THEN MADE A RIGHT TURN; PASSING OVER US BY A FEW HUNDRED FEET. IF THE GOV LTT WAS UNDER IFR CONTROL; HE SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN SO CLOSE TO US. IF HE WAS MANEUVERING VFR; HE DID NOT MAINTAIN VFR CLOUD CLRNC CRITERIA. NEITHER APCH CTL NOR TWR INDICATED THAT THE GOV LTT WOULD BE TURNING TOWARD THE ARPT; OR THAT HE WOULD FOLLOW THE LOC; OR THAT WE SHOULD KEEP HIM IN SIGHT; AND NO FOLLOWUP POS INFO WAS OFFERED TO US. ONCE HE PASSED UNDER OUR NOSE SBND WE THOUGHT WE WERE CLR.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.
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