US officials say a key warning system failed before the deadly Air Canada plane crash

United States officials say a runway warning system didn’t sound an alarm before an Air Canada jet from Montreal and a fire truck collided at New York’s LaGuardia Airport.

The head of the National Transportation Safety Board, Jennifer Homendy, said Tuesday that the system didn’t work as intended because the fire truck did not have a transponder.

“We have no indication there were transponders on any of the trucks,” Homendy told reporters at a news conference. “But there are transponders on other trucks at other airports across the nation.”

The system would normally allow air traffic controllers to track the movement of aircraft and other vehicles on runways and taxiways, using radar, sensors and other technology that can trigger alarms.

Two pilots were killed in the collision with the truck on the runway Sunday night.

On air traffic control radio, one controller could be heard clearing the vehicle to cross part of the tarmac en route to an emergency on a United Airlines plane — then trying to stop the truck.

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the collision.

Investigators recovered the plane’s cockpit and flight data recorders by cutting a hole in the aircraft’s roof and then sent them to a lab in Washington for analysis, Homendy said Monday.

It’s expected more information about what was discovered on the recorders could be revealed Tuesday.

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada will also take part in the U.S.-led investigation.

“The hard work now of analyzing the factors that led to this tragic incident has begun and will continue until we get to the bottom of it,” Steve MacKinnon, Canadian transport minister, said in Ottawa.

The pilots have been identified as Antoine Forest and Mackenzie Gunther. Forest lived in Coteau-du-Lac, Quebec, southwest of Montreal, while Toronto college Seneca Polytechnic says Gunther graduated from its Honours Bachelor of Aviation Technology program in 2023.

Passengers on Flight AC8646 said they felt the pilot slamming on the brakes, causing many to hit the seat in front of them, while a flight attendant was thrown onto the tarmac while still strapped in her seat.

The crash has brought into focus the increasing pressures on air traffic controllers in the United States.

LaGuardia airport reopened Monday, but the runway where the collision took place remains closed, and many flights still faced long delays.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 24, 2026.

— With files from The Associated Press