New details have emerged in the investigation following the collision between an Air Canada Express CRJ-900 and an ARFF vehicle at New York’s LaGuardia Airport.
National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy stated that interviews have been conducted with air traffic control personnel who were on duty at the time of the incident. She noted that the workload of the two controllers on shift was at a “concerning” level, with the investigation focusing on task distribution and the decision-making chain within the tower.
Another key focus of the investigation is runway safety systems. Preliminary findings indicate that the airport’s surface surveillance system did not generate a collision alert, and that the ARFF vehicle involved did not have a transponder capable of transmitting its position. This may have prevented tower personnel from tracking the vehicle’s real-time location on the runway.
