National Transportation Safety Board’s preliminary report further says crash prevention system didn’t generate alert
A firefighter whose truck collided with an Air Canada jet last month on a runway at New York’s LaGuardia airport, 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 on the 22 March collision that a crash prevention system for air traffic controllers didn’t generate an audio or visual alert, and lights on the runway that act as a stop light for crossing traffic were on until about three seconds before the collision.
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 realized the warning was for 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 investigators conducted with the crew member.
