LaGuardia airport to install transponders on ground trucks after deadly Air Canada crash
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said Wednesday it plans to put safety trackers on ground vehicles that were not in place during the deadly LaGuardia plane crash last month.
Last Thursday, the National Transportation Safety Board released a preliminary report on the March 22 crash at the New York City airport, shedding light on the collision that claimed the lives of two Canadian pilots and left six seriously injured, including one flight attendant, three passengers and two people in a firefighting truck. The report revealed that a lack of transponders on ground vehicles, along with communication failures, may have been factors in the crash.
Port Authority Chief Communications Officer James Allen said in an email statement they “recognize that transponder technology can provide an additional layer of visibility on top of existing surface-surveillance systems that already track ground movements.
“We will be expanding that capability across our airports, building on the technology already in place.”
As noted in the report, the airport is equipped with an Airport Surface Detection Equipment, Model X (ASDE-X) system used by air traffic control to track surface movement of aircraft and ground vehicles, allowing controllers to track the real-time positions of aircraft and ground vehicles.
“Although ASDE-X is intended to provide tower alerts of potential collisions, the (Federal Aviation Administration) has reported that it did not do so in this case,” Allen said, noting the tower appears to have been in contact with the emergency truck until several seconds before the collision.
“The preliminary findings also reflect how multiple safety systems and procedures interact in real-world conditions, particularly during complex emergency responses involving multiple vehicles.”
Pilots Antoine Forest and Mackenzie Gunther died when Air Canada Express Flight 8646, a flight from Montreal, crashed into a fire truck as it landed at LaGuardia late on March 22. The truck had received permission to cross the runway by the tower controller, but the controller attempted to get the truck to stop seconds before the collision.
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