NTSB flags ‘conflicting information’ in LaGuardia tower, unclear who handled ground-control duties

Federal investigators accidental they person uncovered "conflicting information" successful LaGuardia Airport power operation logs and inactive bash not cognize who was handling ground-control duties successful the moments earlier a deadly runway collision precocious Sunday, March 22.

During a briefing Tuesday, National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Chair Jennifer Homendy said investigators are moving to resoluteness inconsistencies successful operation records, including discrepancies successful dates and times.

"We bash person logs, but there’s besides conflicting information, including dates and times connected the logs," Homendy said.

Investigators said it remains unclear who was performing the crushed controller role—responsible for managing craft and conveyance question connected taxiways—with conflicting accounts pointing to either the controller successful complaint oregon the section controller.

LAGUARDIA PLANE CRASH VIDEO SHOWS JET COLLIDE WITH FIRE TRUCK AFTER FRANTIC AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL WARNING

An Air Canada Jet sits connected the runway astatine LaGuardia Airport, Monday, March 23, 2026, aft colliding with a Port Authority craft rescue and firefighting conveyance aft landing successful New York. (AP Photo/Ryan Murphy) (AP Photo/Ryan Murphy)

The uncertainty is cardinal to the probe aft an Air Canada Express CRJ-900 struck a Port Authority firefighting conveyance connected Runway 4 aft the operation cleared the motortruck to cross.

According to a preliminary cockpit dependable recorder summary, the series unfolded successful seconds. The occurrence motortruck requested support to transverse Runway 4 astir 25 seconds earlier the signaling ended, and the operation cleared "truck 1 and company" to proceed astatine 20 seconds.

The motortruck work backmost the clearance, but with 9 seconds remaining, the operation ordered it to stop.

"Stop, Truck 1. Stop," the transmission said. "Frontier 4195, halt determination please. "Stop, stop, stop, stop. Truck 1, stop, stop, stop. Stop motortruck one. Stop!"

LAGUARDIA PLANE CRASH AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL AUDIO REVEALS FRANTIC CALL FOR TRUCK TO 'STOP, STOP, STOP'

An Air Canada Jet sits connected the runway astatine LaGuardia Airport, Monday, March 23, 2026, aft colliding with a Port Authority conveyance successful New York.  (AP Photo/Ryan Murphy)

At 8 seconds, investigators heard a dependable accordant with the aircraft’s landing cogwheel touching down. Six seconds earlier the end, power shifted from the archetypal serviceman to the captain. The operation again instructed the motortruck to halt astatine 4 seconds. The signaling ended seconds later.

Investigators said the pb firefighting conveyance did not person a transponder, limiting the accusation disposable to controllers and airdrome aboveground detection systems.

According to the NTSB, an investigation of the airport’s aboveground monitoring strategy besides recovered it did not make an alert arsenic the craft and conveyance converged.

"ASDE-X did not make an alert owed to the adjacent proximity of vehicles merging adjacent the runway, resulting successful the inability to make a way of precocious confidence," Homendy said.

AIR CANADA PASSENGER SAYS PILOT 'DID THE BEST THING HE COULD,' DESCRIBES DEADLY IMPACT

An Air Canada Express CRJ-900 sits connected the runway aft colliding with a Port Authority occurrence motortruck astatine LaGuardia Airport connected March 23, 2026 successful New York City. All flights into and retired of LaGuardia airdrome person ben cancelled until 2 P.M. aft an Air Canada Express level formation from Montreal collided with a occurrence motortruck connected the tarmac sidesplitting the aviator and leaving much than forty radical injured.  (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

Investigators said 2 controllers were successful the operation cab astatine the time, a section controller and a controller successful charge, with roles perchance combined arsenic portion of modular overnight operations.

Homendy said that setup is communal during midnight shifts crossed the nationalist airspace system, though she noted the NTSB has antecedently raised concerns astir fatigue during those hours.

She cautioned against assigning blasted excessively early, saying investigators inactive person "a batch of questions."

"We rarely, if ever, analyse a large mishap wherever it was 1 failure," Homendy said.

The craft was carrying 72 passengers and 4 unit members erstwhile it collided with the Port Authority conveyance astir 11:45 p.m. Sunday portion landing astatine LaGuardia Airport. Both pilots were killed  and dozens were injured.

Investigators person recovered the cockpit dependable recorder and formation information recorder and are continuing to analyse operation operations, method systems and controller actions.

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Homendy said interviews with controllers were acceptable to statesman Tuesday afternoon.

Fox News Digital's Julia Bonavita, Stephen Sorace and Greg Wehner contributed to this reporting.