NEW YORK (AP) — A firefighter whose truck collided with an Air Canada jet last month on a runway at LaGuardia Airport, killing both pilots, heard an air traffic controller warn “stop, stop, stop” but didn’t know who it was for, federal investigators said Thursday.
The National Transportation Safety Board reported that a crash prevention system failed to generate any alerts in the control tower prior to the incident, and that runway entrance lights indicating stop conditions were active until just three seconds before the collision.
According to the report, the fire truck had been cleared by the air traffic controller only 12 seconds before the plane touched down. The fire truck's turret operator eventually realized that the “Truck 1, stop, stop, stop” message was directed at them, but by then the vehicle had already entered the runway.
The plane involved was an Air Canada Express Flight 8646, which was landing with more than 70 individuals onboard. Pilots Antoine Forest, 24, and Mackenzie Gunther, 30, died in the crash. Approximately 40 people were treated for injuries, including both firefighters in the truck involved.
Witness reports and records indicate that the tower operations were unusually busy at the time due to delays causing a higher volume of arrivals. The situation escalated as emergency personnel were responding to an emergency incident involving another airplane.
This incident marks the first fatal crash at LaGuardia in 34 years, renewing scrutiny on airport safety protocols and the operational effectiveness of advanced surveillance systems like ASDE-X, intended to prevent dangerous runway incursions.
