FAA adds transponders to all of its airport vehicles after deadly Air Canada LaGuardia flight crash
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The U.S. aviation safety agency said Wednesday that all of its airport vehicles will be equipped with technology to help air traffic controllers track their movements, a move that was spurred by the March fatal crash involving an Air Canada flight at New York's LaGuardia Airport.
A statement from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said the agency will spend $16.5 million US ($22.6 million) to add transponders, called. Vehicle Movement Area Transmitters (VMATs), in its vehicles at airports across the country.
“VMATs help prevent dangerous runway incidents and by accelerating the deployment of this technology, we are closing critical visibility gaps on our nation's runways and taxiways,” he wrote. FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford.
US investigators say the driver of a fire truck that crashed last month into an Air Canada plane at LaGuardia Airport did not recognize that the radio message saying 'stop, stop, stop' was his, and that the truck's lack of transponders also played a role.
The statement said the FAA had been planning the change for months, but accelerated the move after an Air Canada plane collided with a fire truck while landing at LaGuardia Airport on March 22.
The National Transportation Safety Board's initial report on the crash, which killed both pilots, revealed that the truck was not equipped with a transponder.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which oversees LaGuardia and other area airports, said last month it would add transponders to its vehicles operating near runways.
The airport's area monitoring system, known as ASDE-X, tracks every plane and vehicle in real time on air traffic controllers' display to help prevent aircraft collisions.
The system provides a visual and audible warning when it detects a potential collision, giving regulators time to intervene, but no alarm went off at LaGuardia the night of the crash.
The FAA's move to install transponders at airports nationwide comes one year and one day after the agency proposed that airports with ASDE-X programs voluntarily equip their emergency vehicles with transponders to improve aviation safety.
The statement said transponders will be installed in about 1,900 vehicles at 44 airports with ASDE-X and Airport Surface Surveillance Capability (ASSC) systems. The same will be done at 220 other airports that “have or will receive” Surface Awareness Initiative surveillance programs, another program to improve the visibility and awareness of air traffic controllers.
Wednesday's statement recommended that airports and airlines do the same for their vehicles.
