Narrative:

We were coming off the pacific 1 tailored arrival (TA) approaching the bridge for 28L. Norcal gave us a B757 to follow that was within a few miles of us at our 3 o'clock and turning in to 28R. It was night with nothing to look for other than a pair of wing lights. That aircraft had to go belly up on the lineup to 28R losing sight of us. When we both rolled out our nose was even with his tail. We were flying tight close in formation at night with another airliner using nothing; but his wing lights for guidance to distance; speed and closure rate. If either of us had overshot the centerline; well it would have been very close. Our approach speed was faster than the 757 and we just couldn't go any slower and we aren't supposed to pass. We touched down together. How many of us have been trained in our jets to fly night join-ups to formation landings using only wing lights at low altitudes. This is hard enough in daylight. Do we want to keep doing this until someone gets hurt? Center said they made a mistake with the up-link and norcal will accommodate 28R pacific arrival that was up-linked to the FMC. ATC asked if we could still fly the TA descent to menlo. We agreed and were cleared to descend via the pacific 1 TA arrival. I asked for clarification with oak that the TA was linked to 28R and not 28L. They said they understood and will pass along the loaded arrival to norcal. When norcal was contacted they told us that 28R was not going to work and expect 28L. The problem arises when norcal thinks we can complete the pacific 1 TA to another runway without getting a new clearance and re-loading per the sops. We are descending on the 28R arrival but approach is expecting us to complete the 28L TA. A few miles outside menlo norcal clears us to cross menlo at or above 4000 and cleared for the ILS 28L approach. They still think we have a pacific 1 TA for 28L loaded in the FMC. When you load another runway into the FMC the linkup to 28R disappears and you get a discontinuity at menlo. I told norcal we need vectors and an altitude after menlo to 28L. The point of this is that oak center and norcal did not coordinate the uploaded arrival. Oak only cares about the descent to menlo. Norcal thinks we are linked up to 28L and doesn't know that oak gave us the 28R arrival.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air carrier assigned the Tailored Arrival into SFO detailed a number of events that were experienced during this night operation; highlighting the closely spaced runway operation; sighting limitations and potential safety factors.

Narrative: We were coming off the Pacific 1 Tailored Arrival (TA) approaching the bridge for 28L. NORCAL gave us a B757 to follow that was within a few miles of us at our 3 o'clock and turning in to 28R. It was night with nothing to look for other than a pair of wing lights. That aircraft had to go belly up on the lineup to 28R losing sight of us. When we both rolled out our nose was even with his tail. We were flying tight close in formation at night with another airliner using nothing; but his wing lights for guidance to distance; speed and closure rate. If either of us had overshot the centerline; well it would have been very close. Our approach speed was faster than the 757 and we just couldn't go any slower and we aren't supposed to pass. We touched down together. How many of us have been trained in our jets to fly night join-ups to formation landings using only wing lights at low altitudes. This is hard enough in daylight. Do we want to keep doing this until someone gets hurt? Center said they made a mistake with the up-link and NORCAL will accommodate 28R Pacific Arrival that was up-linked to the FMC. ATC asked if we could still fly the TA descent to MENLO. We agreed and were cleared to descend via the Pacific 1 TA arrival. I asked for clarification with OAK that the TA was linked to 28R and not 28L. They said they understood and will pass along the loaded arrival to NORCAL. When NORCAL was contacted they told us that 28R was not going to work and expect 28L. The problem arises when NORCAL thinks we can complete the Pacific 1 TA to another runway without getting a new clearance and re-loading per the SOPS. We are descending on the 28R arrival but approach is expecting us to complete the 28L TA. A few miles outside Menlo NORCAL clears us to cross MENLO at or above 4000 and cleared for the ILS 28L approach. They still think we have a Pacific 1 TA for 28L loaded in the FMC. When you load another runway into the FMC the linkup to 28R disappears and you get a discontinuity at MENLO. I told NORCAL we need vectors and an altitude after MENLO to 28L. The point of this is that OAK Center and NORCAL did not coordinate the uploaded arrival. OAK only cares about the descent to MENLO. NORCAL thinks we are linked up to 28L and doesn't know that OAK gave us the 28R arrival.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.