Republic Airways pilots mistakenly contacted the wrong New York air traffic control tower while landing at LaGuardia Airport earlier this month, according to reports and authorities.
Delta connection flight 5752, operated by Republic Airways, was gearing up to land at LaGuardia Airport on March 15 when the pilots contacted the tower at John F. Kennedy Airport — roughly 10 miles away, CBS News reported.
Air traffic controllers at JFK Airport sounded baffled by why the LaGuardia-bound flight from Washington, DC, was requesting clearance to land, according to air traffic control audio obtained by the outlet.
The pilot could be heard saying, “Brickyard 5752, LaGuardia Tower,” to which the JFK Tower controller responded, “Brickyard 5752. I’m sorry, where are you?”
“2-mile final, Brickyard 5752,” the pilot confirmed.
“2-mile final where?” the JFK tower controller asked.
“Runway 4,” said the pilot.
“At LaGuardia?” the controller asked, to which the pilot confirmed, “Yes, ma’am.”
“This is Kennedy Tower, please go to LaGuardia Tower,” the controller quickly responded.
“Oh my goodness. Alright,” the pilot said.
“That’s crazy,” another pilot uttered.
A spokesperson for Republic Airways told The Post that the flight initiated a go-around after the slip-up and landed at LaGuardia Airport without incident. Delta Airlines confirmed its flight crew was not aboard the aircraft.
“If the airplane would have landed at LaGuardia without receiving landing clearance, it would have been a very bad mistake,” Robert Sumwalt, a former National Transportation Safety Board chairman, told CBS.
“I flew for 31 years, I was an airline pilot for 24 years, [and] I’ve not heard of this particular error occurring. We want to learn from it, so we can keep it from happening again,” Sumwalt said.
The mix-up happened exactly a week before Air Canada Express Flight 8646 smashed into a Port Authority truck on LaGuardia Airport’s Runway 4 — killing two pilots and injuring 41 others.
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