In brief
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating a tragic incident at LaGuardia Airport where an Air Canada jet struck a fire truck on the runway, leading to the deaths of both pilots and injuring multiple others. The incident raises significant concerns about the efficacy of the airport's Airport Surface Detection Systems (ASDE), which are designed to prevent ground collisions. Factors such as the lack of transponders on emergency vehicles and potential distractions for the controllers may have contributed to the disaster, prompting a reevaluation of safety protocols.
The systems in place at New York’s LaGuardia Airport to prevent ground collisions failed to keep an Air Canada jet from smashing into a fire truck that had just pulled out on the runway as the plane was landing.
The National Transportation Safety Board will determine what went wrong before Sunday’s crash that killed both pilots and injured dozens of others. One of the two air traffic controllers on duty that night cleared the fire truck to cross the runway just 12 seconds before the plane carrying 76 people touched down. His frantic calls moments later for the truck to stop didn’t prevent the collision.
Investigators are just beginning to interview everyone involved, examine the wreckage and test everything that could have played a role. The mangled plane was being moved to a secure hangar Wednesday for further examination.
LaGuardia is one of 35 major airports nationwide that have Airport Surface Detection Systems (ASDE-X) known for combining radar data with information from transponders in planes and vehicles, creating a display showing controllers where every aircraft and vehicle is. The system even sounds an alarm in the tower when a potential collision is imminent.
Just last fall, the NTSB credited that warning system with preventing a private jet from running into a Southwest Airlines plane on a runway in San Diego.
The system also failed to sound an alarm at LaGuardia before the crash Sunday because it had trouble predicting it. The fire truck and emergency vehicles at LaGuardia lack transponders that provide precise information, with the FAA encouraging airports to install transmitters.
Moreover, runway warning lights should have indicated red when the fire truck was told to cross the runway. Aviation safety experts cited that both the truck driver and controller may have been distracted at that moment due to the emergency call from another plane.
The complexities in aviation safety mean that while many systems are in place to prevent disasters, the recent crash underscores that no single measure is absolute. Authorities will continue to investigate how to enhance safety protocols at airports nationwide.
