What is the correct phraseology for changing the runway of a landing clearance?

Question

In the liveATC clip on this YouTube video, an American Airlines 767 arriving at SFO (San Francisco International) had been cleared to land on 28R, but, apparently while already on final, was told to switch to 28L.

The initial clearance given as

American 2293 Heavy, San Francisco Tower, Wind 210 at 18, Caution Wake Turbulence, Heavy 767 mile-and-a-half final, Runway 28 Right, Cleared to Land.

which was read back, as per the usual. However, the Tower later sent the following transmission:

American 2293 Heavy, Change to Cleared to Land Runway 28 Left

which the pilot read back as

28L, Cleared to Land. American 2293 Heavy.

However, the pilot was seemingly too focused on flying the final to notice that the runway assignment had changed between the clearances and continued flying final to 28R, nearly resulting in landing on top of a United jet that was subsequently cleared to line-up-and-wait on 28R. Fortunately, the United pilot noticed the big 767 flying towards him and exited the runway on the other side instead of lining up. Tower then instructed American 2293 to go around.

It seems to me that the phraseology used to change the clearance here is too close to sounding like the controller is just repeating the initial landing clearance, rather than directing a busy pilot's attention to the fact that he was just told to change runways while apparently already flying final.

My question is: Was the phraseology correct for this change of the clearance? If not, what is the proper phraseology?

Given that this was in the U.S., I'm looking for FAA phraseology.

Answer 1

The phraseology in the video was slightly incorrect at the time it was issued. Due to further clarifications, that phraseology is now even more of a departure from the current guidance.

When that video was posted in April 2015, the current version of the ATC Order was FAA JO 7110.65V, Change 2. Paragraph 3–10–5 prescribes the "change runway" phraseology, and that paragraph was not modified in Change 2 nor in Change 1; thus the paragraph published in JO 7110.65V "basic" was in effect:

3−10−5. LANDING CLEARANCE
a. When issuing a clearance to land, first state the runway number followed by the landing clearance. If the landing runway is changed, controllers must preface the landing clearance with “Change to runway.”
PHRASEOLOGY−
RUNWAY (number) CLEARED TO LAND.
Or
CHANGE TO RUNWAY (number) CLEARED TO LAND

That means the ATC instruction should have been:

American 2293 Heavy, change to runway 28L, cleared to land

All the correct information was in the transmission you quoted, it was just given slightly out of order. But that could easily be an issue for a pilot who's in a high-workload phase of flight and it's probably exactly why the ATC orders say that the words "change to runway" must come first.

Paragraph 3–10–5 was modified by Notice N JO 7110.761 dated October 26, 2018:

3-10-5. LANDING CLEARANCE
a. When issuing a clearance to land, first state the runway number followed by landing clearance. If the landing runway is changed, controllers must preface the landing clearance with “Change to runway” followed by the runway number. Controllers must then restate the runway number followed by the landing clearance.
PHRASEOLOGY-
RUNWAY (number) CLEARED TO LAND
Or
CHANGE TO RUNWAY (number), RUNWAY (number) CLEARED TO LAND.
NOTE-
The purpose of the ‘change to runway’ phraseology and restating the runway number is to emphasize to the pilot that they are being cleared to land on a runway other than what they were expecting.

The background information in the change notice says that "This new language builds on previous mitigations and is intended to clarify the "runway" on which a pilot is to land."

N JO 7110.761 was incorporated into JO 7110.65X, Change 3, dated February 28, 2019.

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I've had ATC change my landing clearance a couple of times but the controller always asked me first if I could do it:

Tower: N12345, cleared to land 21L
N12345: Cleared to land 21L, N12345
[A few seconds later...]
Tower: N12345, are you able to switch to 21R?
N12345: Affirm, we can do that, N12345
Tower: N12345, change to runway 21R, cleared to land

However, landing a C182 at a Class D is a bit different from landing a heavy at SFO; I assume the controllers there have less time to talk so they may simply have changed the clearance and expected the pilot to say "unable" if necessary.

Answer 2

Was the phraseology correct for this change of the clearance?

Probably not. It was possibly missing an important standard phrase, and almost certainly missing the clarity that such a change should include. There was also some implied diligence, on the part of ATC, to ensure that the change in clearance was understood by the pilot.

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If not, what is the proper phraseology?

There is a missing Phrase in the ATC transmission, and both the UK CAA CAP 413 and the ICAO Radio telephony Manuals both agree (I will assume the FAA do too, as they tend to follow suit, but for my google-fu I cannot find the official source):

CORRECTION - An error has been made in this transmission (or message indicated). The correct version is...

So, the ATC's instruction should probably have been along the lines of:

American 2293 Heavy, CORRECTION to clearance to land. Cleared to Land Runway 28 Left.

To which the aircraft should have responded

28 Left, Cleared to land, American 2293 Heavy

Should the controller have not received the correct read back of the assigned new runway...

28 Right, Cleared to land, American 2293 Heavy

The controller's job, would have been to correct that mistake immediately

American 2293 NEGATIVE, Cleared to land Runway 28 LEFT. Confirm runway change received.

To which you would hope the pilot got the point that his clearance has changed, and he would read back the corrected landing clearance.

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There are 2 other possibilities. My opinion is that the above would be slightly more correct but for answer completeness:

The controller could have cancelled the previous clearance using that standard phrase CANCEL [previous clearance] and reissued it.

American 2293 CANCEL clearance to land Runway 28 Right. Cleared to land Runway 28 Left

To which an accurate readback would have been expected, with the same diligence by ATC to correct any mistake. At least in this case it is clear from the message that the landing clearance has changed.

The other option, and its a real outsider and less standard (as its intention is to reclear for the purpose of routing) is the standard phrase RECLEARED

American 2293 RECLEARED to land Runway 28 Left

Again, this should have made it clear to the pilot that his clearance has changed, and the same readback/check cycle would be initiated. I think this particular example is moving away from standard phrasology, and I only include it for completeness.

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As you can see, even standard phraseology is sometimes ambiguous as to the correct one to use. It's why controllers & pilots have some leeway (we're humans communicating at the end of the day). The important part here that was missed was an accurate message/readback/confirmation cycle.