MONTREAL - The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration is investigating how an Air Canada pilot lined up to land last week on a San Francisco International Airport taxiway where four planes were waiting to depart, the agency said on Tuesday.

The Air Canada (AC.TO) A320 from Toronto was cleared to land on a runway at the airport just before midnight on Friday, the FAA said in a statement.

But instead, the pilot of Flight AC759 inadvertently lined up to land on a parallel taxiway where four planes were waiting to depart.

According to an audio recording of the incident, a United Airlines pilot is heard saying that the Air Canada plane "flew directly over us," alerting the air traffic controller that the plane was headed toward the taxiway. The controller took charge, averting what could have been the worst aviation disaster since the collision of two B747 planes in 1977 in Tenerife, U.S. pilot and Aero Consulting Experts Chief Executive Ross Aimer said by phone.

"An air traffic controller sent the Air Canada jet around," the FAA said. "The plane made another approach and landed without incident."

The FAA is now investigating the distance between the Air Canada aircraft and the jets that were lined up on the taxiway.

Air Canada is investigating the circumstances and has no additional information to offer, it said in a statement.