Firefighter heard ‘stop, stop’ before LaGuardia jet crash, but didn’t know who it was for, NTSB says

NEW YORK (AP) — His truck collided with an Air Canada Express jet last month In the incident that killed both pilots on the runway at New York’s LaGuardia Airport, the air traffic controller heard the “stop, stop, stop” warning but did not know who it was for, federal investigators said Thursday.

The National Transportation Safety Board’s preliminary report into the March 22 crash said that just seconds earlier, the controller had allowed the fire truck to cross the runway, but the truck began moving while its warning lights, which serve as a stop sign for crossing traffic, were still on.

Because the truck doesn’t have a transmitter collision avoidance system The report said the control tower failed to reliably determine its position, “did not anticipate a possible conflict with the landing aircraft” and did not generate an audible or visual warning, and pointed to a number of errors and malfunctions that contributed to the crash.

The report stated that after the air traffic controller’s initial stop warning, the fire truck’s turret operator heard the controller say “Truck 1, stop, stop, stop” and noticed that he was telling the truck to stop. truck at that time already on the track Air Canada Express Flight 8646 as it lands and accelerates toward it.

The turret operator, one of two crew members on the fire truck, reminded investigators that he saw the plane’s lights on the runway when the vehicle turned left, the report said. The aircraft recorded a speed of 104 mph (167 km/h) just before impact. The truck was traveling at approximately 30 mph (48 km/h).

Investigators said the frantic warning came after the air traffic controller allowed the truck to cross the runway just 12 seconds before the plane touched down.

Pilots died, 39 people were injured, including fire crews

There were 76 people on board the plane, a CRJ900 regional jet coming from Montreal. Accident killed the pilots Antoine Forest (30) and Mackenzie Gunther (24). Two fire truck crews were among the 39 injured people taken to hospitals. It was stated that six people were seriously injured.

A. flight attendant The man, who was still strapped into his seat after being thrown onto the asphalt, survived.

Another flight attendant sat in the back seat of the plane for landing and described the flight as normal until she felt a blow, the report said. The report stated that he did not know what had happened and tried to call the pilots but received no response.

This was the first fatal crash at LaGuardia in 34 years.

The tower at LaGuardia was busier than usual the night of the crash as flight delays more than doubled the number of arrivals and departures after 10 p.m. than planned, according to data from aviation analytics firm Cirium. The report stated that two air traffic controllers were on duty in accordance with the normal schedule.

Planes were landing every few minutes; A dozen flights were landing between 11 p.m. and the crash occurred less than 40 minutes later. At the same time, the tower was coordinating an emergency response to an unusual odor in the cabin of a United Airlines jet that was making flight attendants feel unwell.

The fire truck was leading a convoy of vehicles consisting of four fire trucks, a police car and a ladder truck to respond to this emergency.

The airport had technology to prevent accidents

Warning lights, known as runway entry lights, were illuminated until the fire truck reached the edge of the runway, about three seconds before impact, the report said. By design, it closes two or three seconds before an aircraft reaches the runway intersection, the report said.

Runway warning lights, located at the nation’s 20 busiest airports, are one of the backup systems designed to help prevent an accident. Aviation experts say the fire truck driver should know not to cross the runway while warning lights are glowing red, even after the controller has cleared the trucks to move.

LaGuardia is one of 35 major U.S. airports with an advanced surface surveillance system that combines radar data with information from transponders inside planes and ground vehicles to help prevent runway incursions. Controllers have a screen in the tower that is supposed to show the position of each aircraft and vehicle.

The system, known as ASDE-X, did not sound the alarm, in part because the radar had difficulty distinguishing trucks at close range and radar targets intermittently merged on the screen. Even though there were seven vehicles, only two targets were visible immediately before the crash. None of them were equipped with transponders that would allow the system to precisely track their movements.

According to air traffic control broadcasts, Flight 8646 was cleared to land on Runway 4 at 23:35.

About two minutes later and 25 seconds before the crash, the fire crew attempted to cross the same runway between the airport’s fire station and where the United Airlines jet was parked.

Five seconds later, as Flight 8646 approached the runway just over 100 feet above the ground, an air traffic controller allowed the fire truck to cross the runway.

Then, just nine seconds before the crash, the controller frantically told the fire crew: “Stop, stop, stop, stop. Truck 1. Stop, stop, stop, stop.” A second later, the plane’s landing gear touched down.

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Funk reported from Omaha, Nebraska. ___

This story has been corrected to show that pilot Antoine Forest is 30, not 24; and pilot Mackenzie Gunther was 24, not 30.