A video of a parallel landing at SFO is more striking than ever given these landings are now being banned
Published on Apr 03, 2026 at 7:09 PM (UTC+4)
by Alessandro Renesis
Last updated on Apr 03, 2026 at 7:09 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Alessandro Renesis
It’s the end of an era as the FAA officially bans parallel landings at SFO – San Francisco International Airport.
Parallel landings are still a thing, but they will no longer be permitted at this particular airport for safety reasons.
And it’s not like it was a rare occurrence: SFO handled around 400-500 of these every day.
But the reason behind the ban is so obvious some people will probably wonder how this procedure lasted so long in the first place.
The reason why parallel landings at SFO are now banned
Parallel landing is not fully banned worldwide, but it is banned at SFO specifically for a very simple reason.
In the past, the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) would allow something called ‘Visual separation,’ which is a procedure where pilots simply rely on visual observation to maintain safe spacing between aircraft.
If you’re thinking that sounds a bit too arbitrary, you’re not wrong.
That’s exactly why this procedure was discontinued.
At some airports, parallel landing isn’t a problem because you’re potentially miles away from the other aircraft.
But at SFO, these runways are about 750 feet apart, which is why the FAA ruled that there simply isn’t a reasonable safety margin to justify Visual separation (instead of radar-based), especially now that aircraft are getting bigger.
This used to be any plane spotter’s favorite maneuver
Plane spotters often pitch up their metaphorical tent in the vicinity of an airport hoping to see some interesting aircraft and cool maneuvers.
San Francisco International Airport was certainly known for its parallel landings.
The FAA has only recently (March 31, 2026) implemented a permanent ban on simultaneous ‘side-by-side’ landings, which is a big deal because SFO used to handle so many of them.
On average, before the ban, SFO handled approximately 300 to 400 parallel landings per day, depending on weather conditions and the seasonal flight schedule.
Pity.
It was always pretty spectacular to watch, whether it involved two different planes of the same size or totally different planes.
Or, for those with very long memories, two Concordes.
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After beginning his automotive writing career at DriveTribe, Alessandro has been with Supercar Blondie since the launch of the website in 2022. In fact, he penned the very first article published on supercarblondie.com. He’s covered subjects from cars to aircraft, watches, and luxury yachts - and even crypto. He can largely be found heading up the site’s new-supercar and SBX coverage and being the first to bring our readers the news that they’re hungry for.
