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

Federal investigators say they have uncovered "conflicting information" in LaGuardia Airport control tower logs and still do not know who was handling ground-control duties in the moments before a deadly runway collision late Sunday, March 22.

Investigators said it remains unclear who was performing the ground controller role—responsible for managing aircraft and vehicle movement on taxiways—with conflicting accounts pointing to either the controller in charge or the local controller.

LAGUARDIA PLANE CRASH VIDEO SHOWS JET COLLIDE WITH FIRE TRUCK AFTER FRANTIC AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL WARNING
The uncertainty is central to the investigation after an Air Canada Express CRJ-900 struck a Port Authority firefighting vehicle on Runway 4 after the tower cleared the truck to cross.

According to a preliminary cockpit voice recorder summary, the sequence unfolded in seconds.

The fire truck requested permission to cross Runway 4 about 25 seconds before the recording ended, and the tower cleared "truck one and company" to proceed at 20 seconds.

The truck read back the clearance, but with 9 seconds remaining, the tower ordered it to stop.

"Stop, Truck 1.

Stop," the transmission said.

"Frontier 4195, stop there please.

"Stop, stop, stop, stop.

Truck 1, stop, stop, stop.

Stop truck one.

Stop!"
LAGUARDIA PLANE CRASH AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL AUDIO REVEALS FRANTIC CALL FOR TRUCK TO 'STOP, STOP, STOP'
At 8 seconds, investigators heard a sound consistent with the aircraft’s landing gear touching down.

Six seconds before the end, control shifted from the first officer to the captain.

The tower again instructed the truck to stop at 4 seconds.

The recording ended seconds later.

Investigators said the lead firefighting vehicle did not have a transponder, limiting the information available to controllers and airport surface detection systems.

According to the NTSB, an analysis of the airport’s surface monitoring system also found it did not generate an alert as the aircraft and vehicle converged.

AIR CANADA PASSENGER SAYS PILOT 'DID THE BEST THING HE COULD,' DESCRIBES DEADLY IMPACT
Investigators said two controllers were in the tower cab at the time, a local controller and a controller in charge, with roles possibly combined as part of standard overnight operations.

She cautioned against assigning blame too early, saying investigators still have "a lot of questions."
The aircraft was carrying 72 passengers and four crew members when it collided with the Port Authority vehicle around 11:45 p.m.

Sunday while landing at LaGuardia Airport.

Both pilots were killed  and dozens were injured.

Investigators have recovered the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder and are continuing to analyze tower operations, technical systems and controller actions.

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