NTSB says “many, many things went wrong” in LaGuardia collision

US federal investigators have identified a series of technical failures and communication difficulties as the primary factors in the March 22 runway collision at New York’s LaGuardia Airport.

An Air Canada Express Bombardier CRJ‑900 operated by Jazz Aviation collided with a Port Authority firefighting vehicle while landing on Runway 4, killing both pilots and injuring dozens of people on board.

The flight, operating as a regional service from Montreal to LaGuardia, was carrying 72 passengers and four crew members; all passengers and both flight attendants survived, although roughly 40 people were taken to area hospitals. Two Port Authority employees in the fire truck were also injured but survived and were reported to be in stable, non–life‑threatening condition.

According to preliminary information from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the Port Authority emergency vehicle was not equipped with a transponder, limiting air traffic controllers’ ability to track it on the airport surface surveillance system and preventing LaGuardia’s ASDE‑X safety net from issuing an automatic collision alert before the crash.

Investigators have said that the surface radar system did not generate an alert because it was unable to form a sufficiently reliable track of the vehicle amid nearby ground traffic, and they are examining how the system handled “merging and unmerging” targets in that area.

NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy has stated that “many, many things went wrong,” emphasising that the absence of a transponder on the truck and the surface‑monitoring system are key areas of focus.

Preliminary cockpit voice recorder and tower communication reviews indicate that the aircraft was cleared to land on Runway 4 and that, close to the time of the collision, the tower also cleared airport vehicles, including a fire truck, to cross the same runway

In the seconds before impact, controllers twice instructed the truck to stop, but the collision still occurred. Investigators have stressed that these details are preliminary and may be refined as more data are analysed.

The NTSB has also confirmed that only two controllers were on duty in the LaGuardia tower at the time, performing multiple roles, and has noted “conflicting information” about how ground control responsibilities were assigned during the incident.

While the crash happened around midnight local time, potential issues such as controller workload, staffing levels, and fatigue are still under investigation, and the Board has not yet reached any conclusions about their role in the accident.

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