Pilot safety concerns about New York's LaGuardia Airport were filed to aviation officials months before Sunday's collision between an Air Canada Express flight and a fire truck killed two pilots and injured 41 others, according to reports from Nasa's Aviation Safety Reporting System.
In one report from summer 2025, a pilot wrote 'Please do something' after air traffic controllers failed to provide appropriate guidance about multiple nearby aircraft. 'The pace of operations is building in LGA,' they said. 'The controllers are pushing the line.' The pilot also referenced the January 2025 mid-air collision over the Potomac River in Washington DC, saying: 'On thunderstorm days, LGA is starting to feel like [Ronald Reagan National airport] did before the accident there.'
The pilot described a close call where their aircraft was cleared to land while another plane was cleared for takeoff on a crossing runway, with the departing plane hesitating. 'I think he or she thought twice before starting their takeoff roll,' the pilot said, adding that thick haze from Canadian wildfires and a possible helicopter made it 'safer to continue the approach and land about 10 seconds after the departing aircraft crossed our path.'
Another report since January 2025 described an incident where a pilot was cleared to cross a runway but saw an aircraft 'seemingly headed for us,' and said air traffic control 'should have sent the aircraft around.' The reports come as investigators examine the collision of Air Canada Express Flight 646 from Montreal, which hit a fire truck cleared to cross the runway. The controller later said on a recording he had 'messed up' while 'dealing with an emergency earlier.'
The crash has raised fears about extreme stress on US airport operations, including a shortage of air traffic controllers exacerbated by federal personnel cuts, ageing equipment, and a partial government shutdown since mid-February that has led to over 450 TSA officers quitting. Aviation expert Brian Fielkow said: 'We did not need another aviation tragedy to see this coming. We are watching a system under strain.'
