LaGuardia has reopened in the aftermath of Sunday night’s deadly crash on Runway 4, but operations aren’t completely back to normal.
Runway 4, where the accident happened, and multiple taxiways associated with it are expected to stay closed until 6 a.m. Friday. A National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) go-team is assessing the scene.
Two pilots on the Air Canada Express flight died. Dozens on the plane were hurt, along with two Port Authority officers in the firetruck that was hit. Radio tower communications feature an air traffic controller saying, “I messed up,” just after the incident. A colleague then apparently tries to comfort that person.
Few details have been released regarding air traffic control thus far. The NTSB investigation got underway on Monday, while Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy addressed public speculation at a press conference.
“That’s not accurate,” he said when responding to a question about how many controllers were in the tower at the time of the accident.
Duffy wouldn’t share how many air traffic controllers were in the Queens airport’s tower at the time of the collision, but he did say that relative to other U.S. airports, LaGuardia is overall well-staffed.
The disastrous chain of events on Runway 4 began with a tower controller granting a Port Authority fire truck permission to cross. The controller gave permission, and the fire crew began to move.
“Truck 1 and Company crossing 4 at Delta,” was heard on the air traffic control transmission.
Soon after, the tower can be heard realizing a catastrophe was about to unfold.
“Stop, stop, stop stop! Truck 1, stop, stop, stop,” the controller said.
It was too late. Video captured the moment of deadly impact.
Aviation attorney Kevin Mahoney said one thing was clear from the control tower audio: the controller was trying to manage both ground and air space simultaneously.
Mahoney said doing so isn’t rare, but it is demanding.
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