LaGuardia one of few airports with system spot runway encounters
The air traffic controller tried to warn the fire truck.
"Stop, stop, stop, Truck 1. Stop, stop, stop," the transmission says. "Stop, Truck 1." The controller can then be heard frantically diverting an incoming aircraft from landing.
Air traffic controllers are not impacted by the partial government shutdown that has caused long delays at airport security checkpoints in recent days. They have been affected by past shutdowns.
The FAA has been chronically short on air traffic controllers for years. But former FAA air traffic control chief Mike McCormick said that LaGuardia is "not a control tower that has perennial staffing problems."
At the time of this crash, however, the tower would have been lightly staffed during the overnight shift, he said.
LaGuardia is one of 35 major U.S. airports with an advanced surface surveillance system designed to help keep track of planes and vehicles crossing the airport.
An alarm heard in the background of the air traffic control audio was likely from the system and would have prompted all eyes in the tower to look for the potential collision, McCormick said.
"It's an aid in a situation like this," he said, but the system doesn't know if someone has given clearance for a vehicle to cross a runway.
FAA statistics show there were 1,636 runway incursions last year.
LaGuardia was the 19th busiest U.S. airport in 2024, with over 16.7 million passengers boarding there, according to a 2025 FAA database.
