A thousand people escaped a fiery death by a mere 100 feet on Friday, it has emerged, as disturbing details about a five-plane incident at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) come to light.

Air Canada flight AC759 was supposed to land on Runway 28R at around midnight, but was in fact heading toward the parallel Taxiway C, which had four fully loaded jets waiting to take off.

Audio from the incident suggests that it was only when one of those planes' pilots spotted AC759 heading towards them that aircraft control realized that something had gone wrong.

AC759 was then given the order to pull away - and was was an estimated 175 feet from the ground and 100 feet from the tops of the planes below when the pilot pulled up, CNN reported.

Scroll down for video

Dangerous lows: An Air Canada jet was just 175 feet above the ground when it was told to turn away or risk hitting four other jets beneath it at San Francisco's Airport (pictured) Friday

‹ Slide me › MOVE SLIDER TO CHANGE IMAGE: Runway 28L was closed with its lights off as the Air Canada plane approached with the intention of landing on 28R. It's believed the pilot may have mistaken 28R for 28L, and Taxiway C for 28R, causing him to try to land on the taxiway

Dangerous: The four planes on Taxiway C were wide-body jets, three of which were headed to Asia and Australia. In total, around a thousand people's lives were put at risk

Although the FAA's investigation is ongoing, early reports suggest a string of errors and mishaps contributed to the near-catastrophe, the Mercury News reported.

Waiting on Taxiway C were four 'wide body' jets - meaning each one was large enough to have two aisles running down its main cabin.

All were reportedly packed with passengers; at maximum capacity they would have held a total of 1,062 passengers, plus crew.

Then, at 11:56pm, the Air Canada plane came, carrying 140 passengers and crew from Toronto.

THE FIVE PLANES Air Canada - AC759 An Airbus 320 containing 140 people, flying from Toronto; it almost landed on Taxiway C, where the four other planes were waiting United - UA1 A Boeing 787-9 capable of holding up to 280 passengers that was scheduled to fly to Singapore Philippine Airlines - PR115 An Airbus A340-300, with a maximum capacity of 313 passengers, headed for Manila United - UA863 Another max-280-passenger Boeing 787-9 intending to fly to Sydney, Australia United - UA1118 A Boeing 737-900, with up to 189 passengers bound for Orlando, Florida In total, as many as 1,197 passengers plus crew could have been at risk in the incident. Advertisement

Typically, incoming international planes are directed to one of two runways: 28L or 28R, referred to verbally as '28-Left' or '28-Right', based on their position from the point of view of an incoming plane.

They are located parallel to each other. Further to the right from the pilot's perspective, and also parallel to 28R, is Taxiway C, where the other planes were waiting.

Here is where the first problem may have occurred: Runway 28L was closed and had its lights off.

That would have made it invisible to an incoming plane, in turn making 28R look like 28L, and Taxiway C look like 28R.

Worse, there may only have been one person overseeing both grounded and airborne planes in the control tower that night.

If so, that could explain why it was only a pilot on the ground who spotted the oncoming disaster.

In an audio recording, the Air Canada pilot can be heard asking SFO control if he's heading towards the right runway.

'Tower control, I just want to confirm that - this is Air Canada 759, I can see some lights on the runway there, across the runway, can you confirm we're good to land?'

He's referring to the lights of the planes he's mere minutes from striking.

'Canada 759, confirmed to land on runway 28-Right, there is no one on 28-Right but you,' the control tower says - apparently unaware that they are looking at different runways.

As the Air Canada jet thanks airport control, another pilot, audibly agitated, buzzes in: 'Where is this guy going? He's on the taxiway!'

Mistake: It's possible that the pilot was confused, as the lights on Runway 28L were off. That could have made it look like 28R and Taxiway C were 28L and 28TR, respectively

Diverted: The plane was diverted at the last minute when one of the pilots on the ground spotted it and told control

All alone? There appeared to be just one person in the tower communicating with all planes, both on the ground and in the air, which made one expert who heard the audio 'uncomfortable'

Control quickly tells the descending plane to 'go around' and it peels off, avoiding a massive collision by a mere 175 feet, according to FlightAware.

It then missed the first two planes by 100 feet, the third by 200 feet and the fourth by 300 feet as it pulled up a preliminary report from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada said, according to CNN.

'That pilot was what broke that chain of events,' retired United Airlines Captain Ross Aimer, CEO of Aero Consulting Experts, told Mercury News.

'He saw an airplane coming in toward his airplane, and he questioned it and got the attention of the air traffic controller.'

Aimer added that wide-body jets can be as much as 60 feet tall - in which case the Air Canada plane was a mere 100 feet from disaster when it flew off.

Ryan Jorgenson, senior aviation data analyst with FlightAware, said that because the runways are so close together at SFO - less than 750 feet - special procedures would have been advised.

They would have required the pilot to use their Instrument Landing System even in good weather; the system would have indicated the correct runway to land on.

Aimer also said that that the audio suggested just one man had been handling communications with both people on the ground and in the air - not ideal, even at night.

'It still was a pretty busy time, there was a lot of traffic taking off and landing,' Aimer said. 'That was something that I felt uncomfortable with.'

SFO spokesman Doug Yakel told the Mercury News that the FAA staffs the control towers.

The FAA declined to comment when asked to confirm if there was just one man operating both the grounded and airborne planes that night.

It said no comments would be made until the investigation was concluded.

Scary: The Air Canada plane was an Airbus A320 (one pictured in Toronto) containing 140 people. It may have passed as low as 100 feet over the top of the planes below

Passengers: Among the other planes was a Philippines Airlines Airbus A340-300 (one pictured in file photo), which can contain up to 313 passengers

Packed: Other planes included a United Boeing 737 (pictured, file photo). Three of the planes were set to fly to Asia and Australia; the fourth was to fly to Orlando; all were said to be packed

Anne Guzman, a passenger on the plane, said that she was oblivious to the danger that she and so many others were in.

'As far as I could remember, just before landing, the plane suddenly jerked up and was going up and circling again,' she said.

'The pilot only said that we would be making a turn around because we had to re-align once more … [I] don't remember any explanation or people asking for more details afterwards.

'I don't remember any concern from that announcement and maybe around 10 minutes after, we landed smoothly.'

She added: 'I thought the whole flight was very calm and normal, until learning about this news!'

On Monday, Aimer told the Mercury News that SFO 'probably came close to the greatest aviation disaster in history.'

'If you could imagine an Airbus colliding with four passenger aircraft wide bodies, full of fuel and passengers, then you can imagine how horrific this could have been,' he remarked.

'This is pretty huge,' he added. 'My buddies called and asked if I knew about it. They're a sitting duck on the taxiway. They can't go anywhere.'

In a statement, Air Canada said in part: 'We are still investigating the circumstances and therefore have no additional information to offer.'

It did not confirm whether any action has been taken against the pilot. Jorgensen said he would most likely be retrained.

A separate investigation by the FAA is also underway.