Delta pilots contact wrong tower while attempting landing at LaGuardia: ‘I’M SORRY, WHERE ARE YOU?’ (original) (raw)
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Delta pilots contact wrong tower while attempting landing at LaGuardia: ‘I’M SORRY, WHERE ARE YOU?’
The flight was approaching LaGuardia, just over Queens, about 16 km away from JFK
Published Apr 01, 2026 • Last updated Apr 01, 2026 • 2 minute read
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A Boeing 767 passenger aircraft of Delta airlines arrives from Dublin at JFK International Airport in New York as the Manhattan skyline looms in the background on February 7, 2024. Photo by Charly Triballeau/AFP /Getty Images
A Delta Air Lines flight avoided a possible disaster after pilots were told they were talking to the wrong tower — at the wrong airport.
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Delta Flight 5752, operated by Republic Airways, was on its final approach to land at New York’s LaGuardia Airport when the pilots realized they were actually speaking with controllers in the tower at JFK International Airport.
The pilots somehow ended up on the wrong frequency, CBS News reported.
The confusing conversation
“Tower, 5752, confirmed cleared to land 4?” the pilot is heard telling the tower in audio obtained by the outlet.
“That’s… uh, who?” the confused operator in the JFK tower responded, to which the pilots answered, “Brickyard 5752.”
The tower asked again, “Brickyard 5752, I’m sorry, where are you?”
The flight was approaching LaGuardia, just over Queens, about 16 km away from JFK.
“2-mile final, brickyard 5752,” the pilot repeated, to which the control tower asked, “2-mile final, where?” the control tower asked.
The pilot responded, “Runway 4,” before the tower asked, “At LaGuardia?”
“Yes ma’am,” the pilot confirmed.
“This is Kennedy tower, please go to LaGuardia tower,” they said.
“Oh my goodness. Alright,” the embarrassed pilot answered, while another pilot chimed in, “That’s crazy.”
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A Delta regional jet 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.
CBS News' @krisvancleave has more. pic.twitter.com/yKy6Mac9RI
— CBS News (@CBSNews) April 1, 2026
‘Very bad mistake’
The Delta flight, which was coming from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, got in touch with LaGuardia’s control tower, then looped around before being cleared to land.
Robert Sumwalt, the former chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, told CBS that communicating with a tower on the wrong radio frequency is rare.
“I flew for 31 years, I was an airline pilot for 24 years, I’ve not heard of this particular error occurring,” he said.
“If the airplane would have landed at LaGuardia without receiving landing clearance, it would have been a very bad mistake.”
Sumwalt added: “We wanna learn from it so we can keep it from happening again.”
It was just over a week ago that an Air Canada flight collided with a Port Authority fire truck on LaGuardia’s runway.
Both pilots were killed and 41 people were injured. The investigation is ongoing.
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