Fire Truck In Deadly LaGuardia Crash Lacked Equipment Needed To Trigger Warning System, NTSB Says

U.S. investigators say a runway warning system didn’t sound an alarm before an Air Canada jet and a fire truck collided at New York’s LaGuardia Airport.

The head of the National Transportation Safety Board said Tuesday that the system didn’t work as intended because the fire truck did not have a transponder.

Two pilots were killed in the collision with a firefighting truck on the runway Sunday night.

On air traffic control radio, one controller could be heard clearing the vehicle to cross part of the tarmac en route to an emergency on a United Airlines plane — then trying to stop the truck.

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the collision. The Transportation Safety Board of Canada will also take part in the U.S.-led investigation.

Investigators recovered the plane’s cockpit and flight data recorders by cutting a hole in the aircraft’s roof and then sent them to a lab in Washington for analysis.

The pilots have been identified as Antoine Forest and Mackenzie Gunther. While Forest lived in Coteau-du-Lac, Que., southwest of Montreal, Toronto college Seneca Polytechnic says Gunther graduated from its Honours Bachelor of Aviation Technology program in 2023.

Passengers on Flight AC8646 said they felt the pilot slamming on the brakes, causing many to hit the seat in front of them, while a flight attendant was thrown onto the tarmac while still strapped in her seat.

The crash has brought into focus the increasing pressures on air traffic controllers in the United States.

LaGuardia airport reopened Monday but the runway where the collision took place remains closed and many flights still faced long delays.