SFO & Oakland Airport on FAA's Runway Safety Hot Spot List

The FAA has flagged nine Bay Area airports, including San Francisco International and Oakland International, on its ongoing “hot spot” list, a federal database identifying airport ground areas where collisions or near-misses are most likely to occur.

The list, which covers more than 150 airports nationwide, aims to alert pilots and ground crews to locations with a history of incidents or layouts that create confusion. Thirty-four California airports appear on the current list, with SFO, Oakland International, and Mineta San Jose International among the most prominent Bay Area entries.

At SFO, the FAA identified four specific ground hot spots tied to navigation errors and unclear pavement markings. In one area, pilots taxiing east on Taxiway B have turned onto the wrong path. In another, missed turns have pushed aircraft across active runways. Two additional locations involve uncertainty about where to stop before runway crossings, particularly where pavement markings have worn down or are otherwise hard to read.

Oakland International carries three flagged areas. Similarly labeled taxiways intersecting a runway have caused mix-ups in one zone. In another, aircraft departing the gate have missed turns and continued toward a runway. A third involves a taxiway segment where the risk of entering a runway without clearance is higher than the FAA considers acceptable.

SFO spokesperson Doug Yakel told the San Francisco Chronicle that the airport works directly with the FAA, airlines, and ground operators to address these risks. “We review these hot spots regularly with the FAA, airlines, and ground operators to heighten awareness and develop mitigation strategies,” Yakel said.

The designation matters because SFO has not been dealing with hypothetical risks. At least three close calls occurred at the airport in the past year alone. In June 2025, an overtired air traffic controller mistakenly cleared a plane to cross an active runway before the pilot caught the error. In May 2025, two planes in flight came within roughly a mile of each other. Then in September 2025, two United Airlines planes collided on the ground in an area where air traffic controllers reportedly do not communicate with flights.

The pattern stretches back further. In 2023, multiple incidents at SFO drew national attention, including three near-misses in a single day where planes came within 30 to 50 feet of each other. Two aborted landings also occurred after pilots spotted aircraft still sitting on the runway.

The most alarming historical case at SFO remains a 2017 incident in which an Air Canada jet nearly landed on a taxiway lined with planes carrying passengers. The pilot had mistaken Taxiway C for a runway. An air traffic controller caught the error and issued a pull-up command in time to prevent what could have been a catastrophic collision involving more than 1,000 people.

Runway incursion incidents have been rising across the country, not just in the Bay Area. The FAA’s hot spot list is one tool in a broader federal effort to push back on that trend, but the list itself is reactive by design. An airport earns a hot spot designation because something has already gone wrong there, or because the physical layout creates conditions where something easily could.

For passengers flying in and out of the Bay Area, the list is a reminder that the risks at major airports are not always airborne. The most dangerous moments in aviation often happen at low speed, on the ground, in the fog, when a taxiway looks enough like a runway that a trained pilot makes the wrong call.

The FAA continues to update the list as new data comes in from incident reports and safety audits. Whether the specific markings, signage, and procedures at SFO and Oakland will improve fast enough to reduce the frequency of close calls is a question the next incident will eventually answer.