Incident Overview
On July 5, 2007, at approximately 0915 Eastern daylight time, a runway incursion occurred at LaGuardia Airport in New York, New York, involving Delta Air Lines flight 1238 (DAL1238), a Boeing 737, and Comair flight 196 (COM196), a Bombardier CRJ1. At the time, a developmental training session was in progress on ground control (GC).
Sequence of Events
Ground control requested permission to cross runway 22 with an aircraft at taxiway F. The local controller approved the request, instructing that the crossing should be conducted behind Comair flight 425 (COM425), an Embraer E135 that was landing on runway 22. DAL1238 was inbound, landing behind COM425. The aircraft following DAL1238 was instructed to execute a go-around. However, ground control mistakenly believed that DAL1238 had also been sent around. Consequently, ground control crossed COM196 across runway 22 at taxiway F without coordination, at the same time as DAL1238 crossed the landing threshold.
Separation and Classification
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) initially reported that the lateral separation between the two aircraft was 3,200 feet. Data from the Airport Movement Area Safety System (AMASS) radar indicated that the closest proximity of the aircraft was approximately 650 feet. The incident occurred under day visual flight rules (VFR) conditions. The FAA classified this incursion as a Category C event.