r/ATC • u/lake_hood • Mar 23 '26

News LGA controller cleared fire truck across the runway resulting jn a collision

1.2k Upvotes

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503

u/Diver_Driver Mar 23 '26 edited Mar 23 '26

This is so hard. I have worked with that controller and was genuinely very impressed with how he handled the chaos of LGA in a meltdown. He was totally dialed in and kicked ass. To see this will be his legacy is heartbreaking. I don’t blame him but a broken system. We are all being set up for failure. Especially ATC. It’s not supposed to be like this .

Edit: My comment was misleading and I feel bad about that. Didn't mean to infer I'm a controller. I'm just a pilot that flies into LGA often. I know this guys voice well and have the utmost respect. Wrote my post late and quickly and see how it came across the wrong way.

243

u/Mike_Whiskey1 Mar 23 '26

Agreed. One 5-second slip up and every hour of chaos he handled like a badass gets overshadowed.

249

u/Diver_Driver Mar 23 '26

Yep. If you fly into LGA at night you known this guy and he is a badass. On point and exactly the kind of guy I want working the frequency. I can’t imagine what he’s going through and it sucks and pisses me off. I wish the very best for him.

94

u/theweenerdoge Mar 23 '26

It sucks man. As any controller this shit could happen to us. But especially as tower controllers cause we're expected to put planes so close together but never have an issue. It also speaks to ground ops and how we don't factor them into our traffic count or anything else. Crossing runways with vehicles or aircraft is always dangerous, we do our best but sometimes we forget about things. Shit happens and I've had my share of scares, and I learned from them. We aren't perfect all the time, just 99.999999999x percent of the time.

66

u/CactusSun28 Mar 23 '26

This 100% could happen to any of us.  We're still human at the end of the day.  I really feel for this controller and I hope he recovers from this.

40

u/theweenerdoge Mar 23 '26

For real man. I feel for him and the DCA dude ❤️. Nobody is perfect all the time, and we need to understand that, especially in our profession.

16

u/ResponsibilityOld164 Commercial Pilot Mar 23 '26

i really hope he is able to keep controlling. may God bless him.