FAA to add transponders to all airport vehicles in wake of LaGuardia deadly collision
The Federal Aviation Administration will equip all of its airport vehicles with transponders after a deadly March 22 crash at LaGuardia Airport exposed gaps in the nation's airfield surveillance systems.
Retired United Airlines pilot Capt. Ross Aimer said the technology, which would have made an airport fire truck visible to air traffic controllers before it collided with an Air Canada jet, has long been essential.
"We're always playing catch up unfortunately," he said.
The National Transportation Safety Board found that although LaGuardia had the proper surface surveillance system in place, the fire truck involved in the crash did not have a transponder. Without it, controllers received no alert that the truck and aircraft were on a collision course.
"The greatest accident in aviation history was in Tenerife where two 747's collided with each other - if we had this technology at that time we could have saved the biggest disaster in aviation," Aimer said.
The FAA announced a $16.5 million investment to install transponders on 1,900 vehicles at 44 airports that use two specific surveillance systems, as well as at 220 airports that have or will receive similar systems. The NTSB has recommended such technology for years.
"Air traffic controllers should have all the information and the tools to do their job. This is 2026," NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said.
The FAA said it had been planning the project for several months but "accelerated" the effort after the LaGuardia crash, which killed two pilots.
"We always say in aviation that our rules, regulations, our SOP's are all written in blood. And sadly we always learn from our mistakes. Sometimes with somebody else's lives," Aimer said.
The agency also reminded airports that they can use federal grant funding to install transponders on their own vehicles and recommended that airlines and other airfield operators do the same.
The Port Authority previously announced plans to add the technology at three major airports in the region.
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