Robert A. Clifford, founder and senior partner at Clifford Law Offices, who has been involved in every major commercial airline crash in the U.S. in the last five decades, said he was disturbed by the National Transportation Safety Board’s (NTSB) initial findings revealed in a press conference that occurred on Tuesday, March 24, 2026. Those findings included a detailed, second-by-second summary of the last three minutes of the Jazz Aviation airplane’s Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) audio recording.
“I’m surprised that the local controller in the LaGuardia Airport (LGA) tower that evening reportedly cleared the Airport Rescue and Fire Fighting (ARFF) truck to cross Runway 4 when the Jazz Aviation regional jet was only 12 seconds away from touching down on that same runway at an altitude of about 100 feet above the runway. The controller gave the ARFF truck no warning of the Jazz airplane on short final approach to land on Runway 4, which seems to imply that he forgot he had the airplane on short final when he cleared the ARFF truck to cross the runway. About 11 seconds later, when the Jazz airplane was only one second away from touchdown, the controller ordered the ARFF truck to “STOP” but failed to order the Jazz airplane to perform a go-around. Five seconds later, as the Jazz airplane was slowing on the runway, the controller once again ordered the ARFF to stop, but again said nothing to the Jazz airplane. Four seconds later, the Jazz airplane hit the ARFF truck as it was crossing the runway, and the CVR stopped recording. Were the LGA tower air traffic controllers concerned that asking the Jazz jet to do a go-around would have caused a near-miss investigation and controller violation?”
The two pilots were killed and dozens more were injured when the Jazz Aviation jet operating as Air Canada Express crashed into the ARFF truck on LGA’s Runway 4 at about 11:37 p.m. on March 22, 2026. The Air Canada Express jet took off from Montreal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport with 76 people on board, including four crew members.
Clifford also expressed concern about why the ARFF truck was not equipped with a transponder that would have assisted the Airport Surface Detection Equipment-Model X (ASDE-X) ground collision prevention system in performing its function. The NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy reported today that without this transponder, the ASDE-X system was not able to discern the location and movement of the ARFF truck from the others that were in line behind it, which prevented the ASDE-X system from having the high confidence level it needed to issue a warning to the LaGuardia tower controllers.
“The lack of transponders on ARFF vehicles is a clear safety hazard that should never be allowed at any airport that has ASDE-X collision avoidance technology, as LaGuardia has,” Clifford said. “Transponders are cheap insurance compared to the risks, as demonstrated in this terrible preventable tragedy. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey own and operate these ARFF trucks and their accountability for this tragedy needs to be examined.”
Clifford also noted that LaGuardia is reportedly equipped with Runway Status Lights (RWSL) at all intersections including the taxiway D intersection with Runway 4 in question. “These lights turn red if a runway is occupied by a moving aircraft or an aircraft on short final for landing as determined by the ASDE-X system. If this system was working properly Sunday night, the lights should have been bright red, and the ARFF truck should never have accepted the crossing clearance from the tower. All of these issues are highly disturbing and these families deserve answers.”
Robert A. Clifford serves as Lead Counsel in the crash of a Boeing MAX8 737 jet that killed all 157 on board in 2019 and Co-Counsel in the recent Washington, D.C. midair crash of an American Airlines jet and US Army helicopter as well as filing the first wrongful death cases in the recent UPS MD-11 crash in Louisville, Kentucky, that killed 15 people.
For further information or comments, contact Clifford Law Offices Communications Partner, Pamela Sakowicz Menaker at 847-721-0909 (cell).