NTSB preliminary report says LaGuardia Air Canada collision was caused by missing truck transponder

The NTSB released preliminary findings on March 24-25, 2026, into the March 22 collision at LaGuardia Airport in which an Air Canada regional jet struck a fire truck on the runway, killing both pilots. The NTSB found the fire truck lacked a transponder, preventing the ASDE-X ground safety system from detecting it and triggering a runway conflict alert. Runway entrance lights remained on until three seconds before impact, and two air traffic controllers were managing multiple duties simultaneously. No single failure caused the crash.