Close call in SAN?
 

I was on SW FLT 2623 last night into San Diego. FIrst, they had us circle around for awhile due to low visblitlty. Then, we were finally cleared to land 30 minutes late. At about 10 ft from touchdown, the Captain gave it full power and we shot back up into the air very quickly! After about 5 minutes, he came on the intercom and told us that another plane had been cleared to be on the runway and was in path. I don't know how close it was, but I do know we were very close to the ground!

I've had that 3 times now, oddly twice in STL which account for only about 5% of my flights. In ABQ once I swear the rear wheels touched before we pulled up. The other two were 1-200 feet off the ground. It was a bit spooky the first time.

Probably not quite as close as you may have thought.
If you were "about 10 ft from touchdown" and there was another plane holding in position on the runway for departure it would have been too late for you guys by the time you has descended that low.

My guess is that the plane that landed ahead of yours wasn't able to clear (exit) the runway before your plane was about to touchdown, this happens fairly often at busy airports. Normally only one aircraft is allowed to occupy an active runway at a time.

Heathrow plans for about a dozen of these incidents a day, as I understand it. Almost certainly neither a close call, nor even really an incident, in the technical sense.

I've had many close calls in small planes (floats and wheeled Cessnas, etc) but I bet it's more scarey in jets.

I was on a wheel plane once going from Juneau to Kake. It was the pilot and me as the co-pilot. We took off while it was clear but then turned back after the pilot got word Kake is too bad. Fog is big in that area. So, after we turned back the fog just rolled down over the mountains and we were trapped. He kept circling and each time got a little lower. Normally I'm in a float plane so I feel safer because we can land on the water which we were circling over.

The pilot (looked to be about 26 or so) looked calm so I felt okay. Finally we saw an Alaska Airlines jet take off so we headed that way. After we landed the pilot said to me "Did you see that Alaska Airlines jet? They told me to watch for that and that was where the airport was." Not sure if he was serious but I think I believed him.

Of course the whole time we were circling I was swearing in my head...As soon as we land, I'm quitting my job. This time I mean it. I may wait till I get back to Anchorage though. :)

Check out this recent thread from the AA board:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=386226