Writing this as reports are starting to come in of an Air Canada Express CRJ-900 flight from Montreal, AC 8646, colliding with a fire truck at LaGuardia Airport. There are reports of at least two fatalities, and multiple serious injuries on the part of the fire truck. Limited information is available at this time, but will update if more information arrives.
Runways and taxiways are some of the most monitored spaces in the world. Due to the danger posed by airplanes laden with jet fuel traveling at high speeds, there are some very clear rules for these movements. Runway incursions, where an aircraft enters the runway when not cleared to do so, are regrettably not uncommon and have led to some disaster or near disasters.
On March 3 of this year, a jet at Boston’s Logan airport aborted takeoff after another plane crossed its path in a snow squall. Fortunately, in this case, like in many others, the pilots were able to see and avoid near disaster, but this is not always the case. Runway incursions are much more frequent than they should be.
In 2001, at Milan’s Linate Airport, a SAS aircraft collided on takeoff with a business jet in heavy fog. The investigation determined a series of significant negligence.
- Guidance markings and signage were so badly worn as to be unreadable
- Ground radar had been decommissioned two years earlier as part of a replacement that had not yet been installed
- Runway incursion alarms had been turned off to prevent false alarms from wildlife
- The directions given by the controller used terms that did not match signage or charts.
In 1991, a US Air plane landed on a Skywest plane awaiting its takeoff at LAX airport, due to the failure of controllers to account for the position of all involved aircraft.
And the most infamous, the March 1977 Tenerife disaster, where a 747 hit another 747 taxiing across the runway after starting its takeoff roll without proper clearance.
All of the above are instances of two aircraft involved in a collision. Early reports say that this was an arriving plane hitting a ground vehicle, specifically a fire truck. However, ground vehicles must get permission from the tower to cross an active runway and personnel are trained appropriately to follow these rules, so the question we will have to wait and see who was not supposed to be where they were, and how they got to be there in the first place.
