Montreal’s airport authority has installed a memorial to two Air Canada pilots who died in a runway collision at LaGuardia Airport last month.
The memorial at the Jacques-de-Lesseps plane spotting park states that Antoine Forest and Mackenzie Gunther lost their lives while performing their duties and pursuing their passions.
Gunther, 24, and Forest, 30, died when their Air Canada plane collided with a fire truck crossing the runway just after landing at the New York City airport on March 22.
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A preliminary National Transportation Safety Board report released this week found a surveillance system did not generate an alert for air traffic controllers because ground vehicles were not equipped with transponders.
It also found that the truck operator reported hearing the word “stop” on the radio but did not know who the transmission was intended for.
Aéroports de Montréal spokesperson Émilie Chevrette says the park where the memorial now sits was where aviation enthusiasts gathered to lay flowers and other tributes after the crash.
“ADM therefore decided to create this permanent memorial to honour these two young men who died while performing their duties and pursuing their passion,” she said Saturday in an email.
Global and it’s spin…
The fire truck was given a green light to enter the runway by ATC. ATC was well aware of where the fire truck was. ATC had just previously given the green light to the jet for landing. 90% fault with ATC. 10% fault with fire truck for not looking before crossing runway (like any fire truck crossing a major intersection should do). Locators would have done little.