A firefighter whose truck collided with an Air Canada jet at New York’s LaGuardia Airport last month heard an air traffic controller warn “stop, stop, stop” but did not know who it was for, according to a preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). The crash on 22 March killed both pilots of the Air Canada Express flight.
The NTSB report, released on Thursday, stated that a crash prevention system for air traffic controllers did not generate an audio or visual alert, and runway stop lights were on until about three seconds before the collision. After the initial warning, the fire truck’s turret operator heard the controller say, “Truck 1, stop, stop, stop”, and realised the warning was for the truck. By then, the truck was already on the runway as the plane was landing.
The turret operator recalled seeing the aircraft’s lights as the truck turned left, the report said. The Air Canada plane, a CRJ900 regional jet from Montreal with more than 70 people on board, slammed into the fire truck, killing pilots Antoine Forest and Mackenzie Gunther. About 40 people, including the two in the fire truck, were taken to hospitals.
The fire truck was leading a convoy of six vehicles responding to an emergency involving a strong odour on an outbound United Airlines jet. The tower at LaGuardia was busier than usual due to flight delays, with arrivals and departures after 10pm more than double the scheduled number, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.
The NTSB said the advanced surface surveillance system, ASDE-X, did not work as intended because the fire truck lacked a transponder. The proximity of emergency vehicles also prevented the system from triggering an alarm. Air traffic control transmissions show the plane was cleared to land at 11.35pm, and the fire crew was cleared to cross the runway 25 seconds before the crash, with the controller issuing stop commands nine seconds before impact.
