NEW YORK (AP) — A firefighter whose truck collided with an Air Canada jet last month on a runway at LaGuardia Airport in New York, 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 said in a preliminary report that a crash prevention system didn't generate an audio or visual alert in the control tower, and that runway entrance lights that act as stop lights for crossing traffic were on until about three seconds before the March 22 collision. The system is designed to turn the lights off two or three seconds before a plane reaches an intersection, the report said.
After the air traffic controller's initial warning, the fire truck's turret operator heard the controller say, “Truck 1, stop, stop, stop,” and realized he was telling the truck to halt, the report said. By that time, the truck was already on the runway as Air Canada Express Flight 8646 was landing and speeding toward it.
The turret operator, one of two crew members in the fire truck, recalled that as the vehicle turned left, he saw the airplane’s lights on the runway, the report said, summarizing an interview that investigators conducted with him.
The frantic warning came after an air traffic controller had cleared the truck to cross the runway just 12 seconds before the plane touched down, investigators said.
The plane, a CRJ900 regional jet from Montreal, had more than 70 people on board. Pilots Antoine Forest, 24, and Mackenzie Gunther, 30, were killed. About 40 people, including the two people in the fire truck, were taken to hospitals.
A flight attendant still strapped in her seat survived after being thrown onto the tarmac.
The fire truck was leading a convoy of six vehicles, including four fire trucks, a stair truck and a police vehicle, responding to an emergency involving a strong odor reported in the cabin of an outbound United Airlines jet.
The tower at LaGuardia was busier than usual the night of the crash because flight delays pushed the number of arrivals and departures after 10 p.m. to more than double what was scheduled, according to data from aviation analytics firm Cirium.
Planes were landing every few minutes, with a dozen flights arriving between 11 p.m. and when the crash happened less than 40 minutes later. At the same time, the tower was coordinating the emergency response to the unusual odor that was making flight attendants feel ill.
Source: WPLG
