LaGuardia conditions drew pilot complaints for years before fatal Air Canada crash

The deadly collision between an Air Canada flight and a Port Authority fire truck is bringing new scrutiny to the unique challenges posed by LaGuardia Airport’s busy airspace and relatively short runways, nearly surrounded by water.

While federal data shows these kinds of crashes are rare, aviation industry experts say the layout and density of the nearly century-old Queens facility leaves both pilots and air traffic controllers little room for error.

In fact, pilots have complained for years about navigating the airport’s dark and winding taxiways and confusing signage, according to a Newsday review of public aviation safety records.

"The controller emphasized that this happens a lot," one pilot wrote in a 2023 report, after mistakenly turning onto the wrong taxiway.

Billy Metallinos, an assistant professor at the CUNY Aviation Center at York College, described LaGuardia as "a high-density, space-constrained airport" with "continuous aircraft and vehicle movement."

"This creates a complex operating environment where precise timing and communication are essential," he told Newsday.

National Transportation Safety Board investigators said their preliminary review of Sunday’s incident, which killed two pilots and injured dozens more, found the firetruck did not have a transponder and the surveillance system used to warn air traffic controllers of potential danger couldn’t accurately track the location of the vehicle.

Two air traffic controllers were performing the responsibilities of multiple people at the time, although that is standard practice, NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy said earlier this week.

"We rarely, if ever, investigate a major accident where it was one failure," Homendy said at a news conference. "Our aviation system is incredibly safe because there are multiple, multiple layers of defense built in to prevent an accident."

'Nearly impossible to see'

Newsday's review of NASA’s Aviation Safety Reporting System, which allows pilots and other airport personnel anonymity to flag potential issues, show recurring concerns at LaGuardia.

In 2021, a pilot referred to the taxiways as a "conglomeration that looks more like spaghetti," according to one of the reports.

Last summer, a pilot implored government officials to "please do something," saying LaGuardia air traffic controllers are "pushing the line" and causing unsafe conditions on the runways and taxiways.

The reports in the federal database, which include all airports nationwide, represent a fraction of the planes that successfully pass through LaGuardia daily. LaGuardia and Kennedy airports are among the nation’s busiest, and the volume of passengers at both are at near-record highs, according to the Port Authority, which oversees the facilities.

But Sunday’s crash happened at night, when it was rainy. Multiple pilots have complained about maneuvering in such conditions at LaGuardia.

"Unlit no-taxi area nearly impossible to see — even worse if wet/rain," a 2024 pilot complaint said.

A Port Authority spokesperson told Newsday in an email the agency was unable to comment on specifics of Sunday's incident given the ongoing federal investigation. 

None of the 49 complaints filed for LaGuardia in the last five years reference issues with first responders on the taxiway, although several cite traffic issues and confusing air traffic controller instructions.

Metallinos said these kinds of collisions can occur when there’s a lot of different things going on.

"Breakdowns most often occur at the intersection of communication, timing and situational awareness, misunderstood or incorrectly read-back instructions," he said. "There’s a lot going on in the cockpit or in the air traffic control towers."

The Federal Aviation Administration has flagged two "hot spots" at LaGuardia’s tarmac, areas on an airfield where collisions or runway incursions have taken place or are more likely to, including an intersection between a runway and taxiway, according to documents.

Sunday’s crash did not occur within the flagged locations. The FAA did not respond to a request for comment.

Rare incident

Also rare at LaGuardia are any runway incursions, when an unauthorized aircraft, vehicle or person enters a runway that could lead to a collision.

In 2025, there were six reported runway incursions at LaGuardia, according to Federal Aviation Administration data. Incursions have varying levels of severity, though, and the vast majority of those reported at LaGuardia since 2002 have been at the lowest levels.

Roughly 350,000 flights come in and out of LaGuardia annually, according to the Port Authority.

Nationally, the runway incursion rate has been trending down in recent years, according to statistics from the FAA.

In 2025, 1,661 runway incursions were reported across the country, according to the FAA. The vast majority of those incidents reported had no immediate safety consequences or there was ample time to avoid a collision.

Alan Diehl, a former NTSB investigator, told Newsday most runway incursions are "very minor," such as a baggage cart getting on the taxiway.

"These kinds of dramatic accidents are very rare," Diehl said.

Sunday’s crash has led to the cancellation of hundreds of flights and is heightening travelers’ anxieties, which have recently been frayed even further by hourslong security lines caused by staffing shortages from a partial government shutdown.

It comes about a year after the January 2025 midair collision between a Black Hawk military helicopter and regional jet above the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, an incident that killed 67 people aboard both aircraft.

Still, air travel is "so dramatically safe, that's what gets lost in all this," Randy Babbitt, a pilot and former administrator of the FAA, said in an interview.

"At any given moment, you look up over your head, there's somewhere between 7,000-7,500 airplanes in the sky over the United States every hour. And there's thousands of landings going on," Babbitt said.

But pilots at LaGuardia continue to file the anonymous reports to the federal database, in hopes of flagging problems before they lead to tragedy.

"I had to stop immediately and aggressively," a pilot wrote in 2023, describing a near miss with another plane before takeoff. "I don't believe Aircraft Y even saw me and they were taxiing way [too] fast in my opinion."