The National Transportation Safety Board’s preliminary report on the deadly ground collision between an airport fire truck and a CRJ-900 airplane at LaGuardia Airport (KLGA) in March reveals the occupants of the truck did not realize that an air traffic controller’s frantic orders to stop were directed at them.
In addition, the airport’s runway entrance lights (REL) were turned off.
RELs are red lights embedded in the taxiway that are supposed to keep traffic on taxiways from crossing the runway.
The accident took place on March 22 shortly before midnight local time. According to the NTSB, the fire truck, identified as Truck 1 in the report, was at Taxiway D approximately 460 feet from the runway threshold and requested permission to cross Runway 4. The ground controller instructed them to cross the runway.
Meanwhile, the CRJ had been given permission to land on Runway 4.
At 2337:04, the airplane was at an altitude of about 130 ft above ground and about a quarter of a mile from the runway, which according to the report put them approximately 4,400 feet away from Taxiway D.
At 2337:11, the jet crossed the threshold for Runway 4 as Truck 1 was traveling at a speed of approximately 11 mph and was approximately 410 feet from the edge of Runway 4.
![Both vehicles after the collision [Credit: NTSB]](https://www.flyingmag.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-24-at-2.37.59-PM.png)
At 2337:12, the ground controller gave a taxiing instruction to another airplane, then immediately instructed Truck 1 to stop. The truck continued and its speed increased to 24 mph.
Meanwhile, the jet was 2,550 feet from Taxiway D at an altitude of 30 feet with a ground speed of 133 kts. Its main landing gear touched down at 2337:17 approximately 1,450 ft from Taxiway D. The aircraft was traveling at 128 knots, and there was a transfer of control from the first officer to the captain and the crew applied the brakes and deployed the thrust reversers.
The report notes: “Truck 1 was just over 100 feet from entering Runway 4 and traveling at about 29 mph. At 2337:21, the RELs extinguished. At 2337:22, roughly two seconds before the collision, the airplane’s nose landing gear touched down while the airplane was about 400 feet from Taxiway D and at a groundspeed of 106 knots.”
Truck 1 was traveling about 30 mph as it entered Runway 4. The truck turned left just before impact and the airplane’s rudder was deflected approximately six degrees to the left at the time of the collision, per the flight data recorder.
According to the report, the turret operator in Truck 1 recalled hearing the words “stop, stop, stop” on the tower frequency, but he did not know who that transmission was intended for.
There was another truck (identified at Truck 7) active at the time of the accident. The turret operator in Truck 1 said he subsequently heard “Truck 1, stop, stop, stop” and realized it was for them and that they had entered the runway. He told investigators that as they turned left, he saw the airplane’s lights on the runway.
The pilots of the aircraft were killed in the collision. Of the two flight attendants, 72 passengers, and two crew of the ARFF vehicle, 39 were transported to local hospitals, with six reporting serious injuries.
The NTSB investigation is continuing. The full preliminary report can be found below.
