Pilots Issued Repeated Warnings About LaGuardia Airport Safety Before Deadly Collision
A newly released report has uncovered that pilots made multiple urgent pleas to officials regarding safety hazards at New York City's LaGuardia Airport prior to a catastrophic crash that claimed two lives. According to a CNN analysis of government records, NASA's Aviation Safety Reporting System received dozens of pilot complaints flagging serious safety issues at the airport.
Deadly Incident Follows Years of Alarms
The report emerges just days after the tragic disaster on Sunday night, when Air Canada Express Flight 646 from Montreal collided with a fire truck on the runway. The truck had been cleared to cross by an air traffic controller, resulting in the deaths of pilots MacKenzie Gunther and Antoine Forest. Over the two years preceding this fatal event, numerous reports highlighted close calls at LaGuardia and cautioned about its perilously fast operational tempo.
In one particularly stark example from last summer, a pilot explicitly wrote 'Please do something' in a report detailing a narrowly averted incident. This occurred after air traffic controllers failed to notify the pilot of nearby aircraft. Another report drew a chilling comparison, noting that during severe weather, LaGuardia's pace was beginning to resemble that of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport before its own tragedy.
History of Incidents and Systemic Concerns
'On thunderstorm days, LGA is starting to feel like DCA did before the accident there,' a pilot warned. The referenced Washington DC airport was the site of the worst US air traffic disaster in recent history, when an American Airlines plane crashed into an Army Black Hawk helicopter in January 2025, killing all 67 people aboard.
Further incidents underscore the persistent safety challenges. In October, a person was hospitalized after two Delta Airlines planes collided while taxiing at LaGuardia. Multiple reports, filed just months apart, describe air traffic controllers issuing inaccurate instructions that led to near-collisions. While some complaints were less severe or lacked specific details, they consistently noted other dangerous occurrences at the airport.
Reporting System and Official Response
The voluntary reporting system reviewed by CNN allows aviation employees to raise safety concerns anonymously. A team of safety analysts reviews these reports and is tasked with informing the Federal Aviation Administration of any issues. However, federal aviation officials have not verified the specific details of these complaints.
At a press conference on Monday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy addressed rumors, denying that only one person was working in the LaGuardia control tower during the tragedy. Duffy stated the airport is 'well-staffed' but acknowledged a controller shortage, with 33 certified controllers against a target of 37. He deferred further details to the ongoing National Transportation Safety Board investigation, stating, 'I can't give specifics on what went wrong.'
Survivor Accounts and Aftermath
Flight attendant Solange Tremblay survived the impact despite being thrown 330 feet from the aircraft. Her daughter, Sarah Lépine, described it as 'nothing short of a miracle,' noting her mother was strapped into her jump seat and suffered a broken leg requiring surgery, but no other serious injuries. The aircraft, carrying 72 passengers, struck the fire truck at approximately 130 mph, with images showing the plane crumpled on the tarmac.
Air traffic control audio revealed the truck had been cleared to cross the runway for an unrelated issue before controllers urgently ordered it to 'stop, stop, stop' moments before impact. LaGuardia was shut down until the early morning after the crash, disrupting thousands of passengers amid broader airport delays due to a Department of Homeland Security shutdown. FAA statistics indicate there were 1,636 runway incursions last year, highlighting a national context for these safety discussions.
