NTSB Investigating How Local Air, Ground Traffic Was Being Handled Before Collision The National Transportation and Safety Board (NTSB) is seeking information on the duties being performed by each air traffic controller working at LaGuardia airport the night of March 22, when an Air Canada ?jet collided with a fire truck, killing both pilots. The tower’s rules may have been violated if local air and ground traffic control duties were combined before midnight, according to a document seen by Reuters news service. The LaGuardia Tower Standard Operating Procedures document says that control positions are not to be combined before midnight, and then only if traffic warrants. The Air Canada crash happened at 11:37 p.m. EDT. The procedures were put in place after a 1997 collision between a Gulfstream II jet that was cleared to land and a broken-down maintenance truck on the runway. The document remains current in 2026, according to people familiar with the matter.
