A system designed to help air-traffic controllers monitor vehicles and airplanes on the ground failed to alert personnel at LaGuardia Airport before an Air Canada Express jet collided with a fire truck late Sunday evening, killing the two pilots.
An analysis found the system, known as ASDE-X, issued no alert to the two controllers in the tower due to ¡°the close proximity of vehicles merging and unmerging near the runway,¡± U.S. National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy said during a news conference on Tuesday.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey fire truck involved in the crash also wasn¡¯t equipped with a transponder that would have helped pinpoint its location, Homendy said. The Federal Aviation Administration last year encouraged airports with ASDE-X to voluntarily equip their vehicles with special transmitters to ¡°improve airfield safety.¡±
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