United States officers say a runway warning system did not sound an alarm earlier than an Air Canada jet from Montreal and a fire truck collided at New York’s LaGuardia Airport.
The pinnacle of the Nationwide Transportation Security Board, Jennifer Homendy, mentioned Tuesday that the system did not work as supposed as a result of the hearth truck didn’t have a transponder.
“We now have no indication there have been transponders on any of the vans,” Homendy instructed reporters at a information convention. “However there are transponders on different vans at different airports throughout the nation.”
The system would usually permit air site visitors controllers to trace the motion of plane and different automobiles on runways and taxiways, utilizing radar, sensors and different know-how that may set off alarms.
Two pilots were killed in the collision with the truck on the runway Sunday evening.
On air traffic control radio, one controller may very well be heard clearing the car to cross a part of the tarmac en path to an emergency on a United Airways aircraft — then making an attempt to cease the truck.
The U.S. Nationwide Transportation Security Board is investigating the collision.
Investigators recovered the aircraft’s cockpit and flight knowledge recorders by slicing a gap within the plane’s roof after which despatched them to a lab in Washington for evaluation, Homendy mentioned Monday.
It is anticipated extra details about what was found on the recorders may very well be revealed Tuesday.
The Transportation Security Board of Canada may also participate within the U.S.-led investigation.
“The laborious work now of analyzing the elements that led to this tragic incident has begun and can proceed till we unravel it,” Steve MacKinnon, Canadian transport minister, mentioned in Ottawa.
The pilots have been recognized as Antoine Forest and Mackenzie Gunther. Forest lived in Coteau-du-Lac, Quebec, southwest of Montreal, whereas Toronto school Seneca Polytechnic says Gunther graduated from its Honours Bachelor of Aviation Expertise program in 2023.
Passengers on Flight AC8646 mentioned they felt the pilot slamming on the brakes, inflicting many to hit the seat in entrance of them, whereas a flight attendant was thrown onto the tarmac whereas nonetheless strapped in her seat.
The crash has introduced into focus the rising pressures on air site visitors controllers in america.
LaGuardia airport reopened Monday, however the runway the place the collision befell stays closed, and lots of flights nonetheless confronted lengthy delays.
This report by The Canadian Press was first printed March 24, 2026.
— With information from The Related Press