Lights that illuminate red to warn that a runway is in use were on before a fire truck crossed and ultimately collided with an Air Canada Express jet at New York’s LaGuardia Airport in March.
The red lights, known as runway entrance lights, were on until about three seconds prior to the collision, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said in a preliminary report released on Thursday. The accident resulted in the deaths of both pilots on the Air Canada plane.
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The latest revelation from the NTSB offers another clue as to why the Air Canada jet, which was operated by Jazz Aviation LP and carrying 76 people, slammed into the fire truck as it was crossing the active runway.
The agency previously disclosed other factors in the crash, including that a system designed to help air traffic controllers monitor vehicles and airplanes on the ground failed to warn of a potential runway conflict and that the emergency response vehicle wasn’t equipped with a transponder that would have helped pinpoint its location.
The incident was the first deadly accident at LaGuardia Airport in more than 30 years and followed a string of fatal aviation disasters last year.
Those include a midair collision between a regional commercial jet and a US Army helicopter near Washington that killed 67 people and a fiery United Parcel Service Inc. freighter crash that resulted in the deaths of more than a dozen people on the aircraft and on the ground.
The fire truck at LaGuardia was responding to a different emergency on a United Airlines Holdings Inc. flight after pilots reported an unusual odor coming from the cabin. The truck, operated by two first responders, requested clearance to cross runway 4, where the Air Canada jet was due to land, and was given the go-ahead by air traffic control.
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There were two controllers on duty in the tower at LaGuardia airport when the crash occurred. While one was coordinating the emergency for the United plane, the other took over transmitting instructions on both of their radio frequencies, the NTSB said in the report. The latter was also the controller who provided clearance for the fire truck to cross the active runway, the report said.
Shortly after giving the go-ahead, the controller could be heard telling the truck driver to stop.
One of the truck operators recalled hearing the words “stop, stop, stop” but didn’t know who the instruction was intended for. Following another transmission from air traffic control, the operator realized the order was for them but at that point had entered the runway.
“He further recalled that as they turned left, he saw the airplane’s lights on the runway,” according to the report.
Top photo: Emergency crews respond to an Air Canada Express plane on the tarmac after the plane collided with a fire truck at LaGuardia Airport (LGA) in the Queens borough of New York, on Monday, March 23, 2026. Bloomberg.
Copyright 2026 Bloomberg.
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