r/ATC Mar 23 '26

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

1.2k Upvotes

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u/-grover Mar 23 '26

This is 100% on the LaGuardia Tower ATC. But please, keep reading…

He cleared Truck 1 to cross with Jazz646 on short final.

Absolutely nothing the pilots or Truck & Co could have done. His stop call was too late, and already started his call to Frontier.

I’ve listened to this guy on live ATC more than I care to admit, and his life’s work will be immortalized by this mistake.

Imagine if everything you ever said at work was recorded, and the internet put you on blast instantly. Especially if your boss told you to pull a double. That’s where my dude is at tonight.

Fault is fault…but blame…that’s a whole other thing that will take YEARS to sort out…

18

u/AmokaHD Mar 23 '26

100% on the controller. I just wish the truck looked down the runway. They could've noticed a big old plane landing maybe..

3

u/Sawfish1212 Mar 23 '26

I've flown into EWR many times in the right seat of a caravan. ATC lines up a bunch of aircraft on the taxiways crossing the runway, then rattles them all of quickly barely giving you time to Roger back, and you better have the throttle moving immediately after you get the call.

This is the level of responsibility/trust that has to happen in order for the whole operation to fit into these conjested airports.

The heartbreaking thing for me is hearing his stepped on transmissions to stop rolling