'Wrong tower!' Republic Airways pilots accidentally contact JFK tower while landing at LaGuardia
NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: A routine landing turned into a head-scratcher in New York’s crowded skies when a Republic Airways crew dialed the wrong tower and got called out in real time.
Pilots flying Delta Connection Flight 5752 (operated by Republic Airways) were preparing to land at LaGuardia Airport on March 15. But instead of reaching the correct tower, they mistakenly contacted air traffic control at John F Kennedy International Airport roughly 10 miles away, according to CBS News.
Wrong tower, wrong call and a quick catch
“Tower, 5752, confirmed cleared to land 4?” the pilot was heard asking in audio obtained by CBS News.
The response from JFK was immediate and confused.
“'That's - uh, who?” the JFK tower operator answered.
Trying to clarify, the pilot said, “Brickyard 5752, LaGuardia Tower,” prompting the controller to reply, “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.
A Delta flight was on its final approach to land at LaGuardia Airport, but the pilots were talking to controllers in the JFK tower about 10 miles away on the wrong radio frequency. pic.twitter.com/lRZLODazv8
— CBS Evening News with Tony Dokoupil (@CBSEveningNews) April 1, 2026
“At LaGuardia?” the controller pressed.
“Yes, ma’am,” the pilot responded.
“This is Kennedy Tower, please go to LaGuardia Tower," the JFK controller instructed.
“Oh my goodness. Alright,” the pilot said.
“That’s crazy,” another pilot chimed in.
A spokesperson for Republic Airways said the crew initiated a go-around after the slip-up and ultimately landed safely at LaGuardia without incident. Delta Air Lines confirmed its own flight crew was not on board.
Still, the close call raised eyebrows among aviation veterans.
“If the airplane would have landed at LaGuardia without receiving landing clearance, it would have been a very bad mistake,” Robert Sumwalt, a former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, 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."
Fresh on the heels of a deadly runway disaster
The communication blunder comes just over a week after a far more serious incident at LaGuardia.
On March 22, Air Canada Express Flight 8646, a Bombardier CRJ-900 arriving from Montreal, collided with a Port Authority truck on Runway 4 shortly before midnight. The aircraft, carrying 72 passengers and four crew members, slammed into the vehicle, which had been responding to an unrelated emergency.
Audio from the scene captured the panic as an air traffic controller desperately tried to prevent the crash. “Stop, stop, stop, stop!” they shouted, but in vain.
The controller later admitted, “I messed up.”
"We were dealing with an emergency earlier. I messed up": Audio has been released of the air traffic controllers working at LaGuardia Airport in New York City when a deadly crash occurred on the runway on Sunday. Two pilots were killed when an Air Canada plane collided with a… pic.twitter.com/B31iUMIfcA
— CBS News (@CBSNews) March 23, 2026
The aftermath was grim. Images showed the front of the commuter jet obliterated and tilted upward, with debris and cables dangling from the mangled cockpit following the 24 mph impact.
Both the pilot and co-pilot were killed in the crash. Many of the 72 passengers and four crew members were injured, though identities have not yet been released.
At least 41 people were hospitalized, including two police officers who had been inside the rescue truck.
An investigation into the collision is ongoing amid renewed scrutiny on reported staffing shortages among air traffic controllers at LaGuardia.
