New York’s investigation into a deadly runway collision at LaGuardia Airport is focused on a short, complicated sequence of decisions and signals that occurred just before an Air Canada regional flight landed. Federal investigators said they are still working to determine what caused an Air Canada regional jet to collide with an airport fire truck on the runway, after the vehicle had been cleared to cross shortly before touchdown.
According to the National Transportation Safety Board, an Air Canada flight that was operating on behalf of Air Canada arrived from Montreal around 11:37 p.m. Sunday and then struck the airport fire truck while the truck was crossing. Investigators said the truck was moving to check on an unusual odor that had been reported on another plane.
Investigators described the runway conditions and traffic level as unusually heavy for that night. They said the airport saw nearly 70 takeoffs and landings after 10 p.m., more than double the 31 scheduled, citing data from aviation analytics firm Cirium. They said no planes took off after 11:09 p.m., but planes continued landing every few minutes in misty, somewhat foggy conditions.
The NTSB said the clearance and subsequent stop instructions to the truck happened close together in time. It said that about 20 seconds before the collision, air traffic control cleared the truck to cross the runway, but about 11 seconds later a controller began repeatedly telling the truck to stop; investigator Doug Brazy said investigators are not yet sure whether the truck’s driver heard the call.
The NTSB also pointed to later recordings from the airport control tower. Investigators said audio captured an unnamed controller saying, “I messed up.” In the days following the collision, the NTSB and other investigators have said they are working to piece together what was heard and what actions followed in real time.
The crash killed the pilot and co-pilot aboard the Air Canada regional flight, according to authorities. The flight carried about six dozen people, and officials have not released the victims’ names; a family member identified one of the dead as Antoine Forest, the Associated Press reported. Authorities said about 40 people were taken to hospitals and that some sustained serious injuries, and that two emergency responders traveling in the fire truck were also hurt.
Some injured people were quickly released, but investigators said at least some remained hospitalized. Authorities also said one flight attendant was thrown from the plane and found still buckled into her seat, many yards (meters) away, according to her daughter, in the Associated Press reporting.
As investigators work through records and interviews, the NTSB has laid out the lines of inquiry it plans to pursue. Chair Jennifer Homendy said federal investigators plan to analyze the plane’s cockpit and flight data recorders, interview air traffic controllers and firefighters, and examine issues that could range from control tower staffing to electronics designed to prevent runway collisions.
Homendy said investigators rarely see major accidents where a single failure is involved, describing such events as more often involving a cascade of problems. She also pointed to runway safety systems and said the FAA last year encouraged airports with runway alert systems like LaGuardia’s to install transmitters in airport vehicles. Homendy said that while some airports have the devices, LaGuardia’s system tracked the truck with radar and did not produce an alert.
She said other safeguards appeared to be operating, including lights in runway pavement that turn red when an aircraft is approaching so that vehicles can steer clear. Homendy also said the NTSB would look at how the control tower was staffed and what roles controllers were covering; she said two controllers were working, covering what are often four different jobs, a pattern she said is common on overnight shifts but that investigators will probe whether it makes sense during a busy airport operation like LaGuardia.
Homendy said the NTSB has raised general concerns in the past about fatigue on overnight shifts in control towers, but she said investigators had not seen indications so far that fatigue was a factor in Sunday’s collision. Investigators from Canada have also been involved, in coordination with U.S. officials, as the crash is investigated.
The collision has also disrupted operations at LaGuardia Airport. The airport was shut down after Sunday’s crash, one runway reopened Monday afternoon, and officials said that was the state of operations on Tuesday, when about a quarter of the airport’s scheduled flights were canceled and major delays continued.
The collision and temporary closure added to a wider strain on air travel for airports contending with long security lines amid a dispute over federal Department of Homeland Security funding. The Associated Press reporting said the crash does not directly affect air traffic controllers because they work for the FAA, which is part of the Department of Transportation, and it said controllers have faced challenges in recent years including a shortage that can force overtime work.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy described LaGuardia’s tower as generally “well-staffed,” the Associated Press reported.