Decades Of Near Misses At Ny Airports All But Predicted Laguardia Runway Tragedy As Pilots Pleaded: ‘please Do Something’

Decades of narrowly-avoided disasters and repeated warnings from pilots astatine New York City airports each but foretold nan caller fatal collision connected a LaGuardia runway, according to aggregate news reports.

On Sunday night, an Air Canada Express location jet collided pinch a occurrence motortruck connected runway 4, sidesplitting nan 2 pilots and injuring astir 40 group connected board. Two firefighters successful nan motortruck — which was responding to a abstracted runway incident involving a United level — were besides injured.

At a property convention Monday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy described nan incident arsenic “incredibly sad and troubling.” Duffy said that nan National Transportation Safety Board is investigating but declined to elaborate further connected “what went wrong.”

In nan years starring up to nan collision, aggregate soul reports person issued clear and urgent concerns astir New York’s airports — and astir aviation information much broadly crossed nan country.

LaGuardia Airport is 1 of nan busiest successful nan country. Located successful nan borough of Queens, it has a unsocial creation that incorporates 2 7,000ft runways, which transverse each different successful a compact space. It has seen a drawstring of adjacent calls, going backmost 30 years.

In 1996, an airliner reportedly had to “abruptly” travel to a halt connected nan runway aft nan unit noticed a conveyance dash successful beforehand of nan aircraft, according to The Air Current, an aviation-focused news outlet. In December 2000, an Airbus A320 narrowly missed a snowfall plow by arsenic small arsenic 50ft while taking disconnected precocious 1 evening.

Similar adjacent misses were reported successful 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2021.

At slightest a twelve reports were besides revenge successful nan past 2 years, highlighting instances successful which collisions astatine LaGuardia were narrowly avoided, according to CNN.

In December 2024, an soul study revenge pinch NASA’s Aviation Safety Reporting System elaborate really a level astir struck different craft connected nan crushed owed to inaccurate directives from aerial postulation controllers. Five months earlier, a aviator had reported a near‑collision aft being cleared to transverse nan runway while different level was landing astatine nan aforesaid time.

“Please do something,” a aviator wrote successful a study past summer, citing a adjacent call.

“The gait of operations is building successful LGA (LaGuardia). The controllers are pushing nan line… On thunderstorm days, LGA is starting to consciousness for illustration DCA did earlier nan mishap there,” nan aviator wrote.

The aviator was referencing nan 2025 collision complete nan Potomac River successful nan nation’s superior that killed 67 people, making it nan deadliest U.S. hose clang successful astir 20 years.

Earlier this month, location were 2 adjacent calls astatine airports successful nan New York area. A Boeing 737 astir collided pinch a Boeing 777 astatine Newark Liberty International Airport past week, and an Air Canada formation came dangerously adjacent to striking different Boeing 777 astatine John F. Kennedy International Airport connected March 12.

In October, a brace of Delta Airlines jets were progressive successful a “low-speed collision” connected nan taxiway astatine LaGuardia, hospitalizing 1 person.

The incidents successful New York City are portion of a long‑standing problem astatine American airports, marked by galore adjacent calls, overstretched airdrome unit and an uptick successful fatalities.

Authorities person struggled for decades to resoluteness alleged runway incursions, which are defined by nan Federal Aviation Administration arsenic nan “incorrect beingness of an aircraft, conveyance aliases personification connected nan protected area of a aboveground designated for nan landing and return disconnected of aircraft.”

FAA records bespeak that specified incursions person not substantially improved since 2023, erstwhile 1,760 were reported, according to The Air Current. That year, The New York Times reported that nan number of adjacent misses had more than doubled compared to nan anterior decade.

At nan aforesaid time, nan manufacture has been weighed down by a persistent shortage of air postulation controllers. Over nan past decade, nan number of aerial postulation controllers has declined by astir 6 percent, moreover arsenic nan number of flights has risen by 10 percent.

“These dedicated professionals proceed to activity short-staffed, often six days a week, 10 hours a time for years astatine a time, utilizing outdated instrumentality and successful rundown accommodation that are successful galore cases much than 60 years aged and are agelong overdue to beryllium modernized and/or replaced,” Nick Daniels, president of nan National Air Traffic Controllers Association, told Congress past year.

The strain connected air-traffic information personnel intensified erstwhile nan Trump management empowered Elon Musk astatine nan Department of Government Efficiency to destruct hundreds of FAA jobs past year, The Atlantic reported.

An FAA spokesperson disputed this and told The Independent: “The authorities workforce reductions did not impact aerial postulation controllers and successful truth we hired much than 2,000 caller controllers past year. Secretary Duffy has many times made that clear.”

Fatal incidents, while highly rare, person besides risen. Data from nan Aviation Safety Network Safety Database shows that 548 group mislaid their lives successful craft accidents successful 2025, nan highest full recorded successful 7 years.

The U.S. Transportation Department did not instantly respond to a petition for remark from The Independent.

Airports are besides facing a much acute problem presented by nan Department of Homeland Security shutdown which has dragged connected for astir 40 days, leaving Transportation Security Administration officers without pay. Hundreds of officers person since quit, and thousands person called disconnected work.

As a result, hold times astatine terminals person dramatically increased, and a number of travelers person missed their flights - contempt showing up hours earlier than accustomed astatine airports. As lawmakers are locked successful negotiations complete a backing bill, President Donald Trump has deployed national migration agents to complete a twelve airports to assist.