The National Transportation Safety Board issued a preliminary report Thursday identifying communications failures behind the deadly runway collision at LaGuardia Airport last month. An Air Canada Express jet struck a fire truck on March 22, killing both pilots and hospitalized 39 passengers along with two firefighters.

Investigators focused on LaGuardia's decision not to outfit emergency response vehicles with transponders. Without this technology, an automatic warning system could not identify each responding vehicle or predict a collision course. The system “did not predict a potential conflict with the landing airplane,” investigators wrote. The FAA had formally recommended in May 2025 that airports equip emergency vehicles with transponders.

The controller who permitted the fire truck to cross Runway 4 was juggling both air and ground traffic when the jet was only 130 feet above the ground—about 25 seconds before impact. Eleven seconds later, the controller urgently radioed “Stop, Truck 1, stop!” but the truck did not stop. A controller was later heard telling another pilot, “I messed up.” The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates LaGuardia, said it had made no equipment changes and would wait for the full N.T.S.B. report before acting.