The LaGuardia crash investigation is now looking closely at what was happening in the control tower before the Air Canada Express jet hit a fire truck during landing. Investigators said they want to interview the air traffic controller who was handling another emergency in the minutes before the collision, which killed both pilots and seriously injured nine other people.
National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Chair Jennifer Homendy said the controller will be one part of the federal investigation and made it clear that investigators will “rule nothing out.” She also said the crash happened during an overnight shift and noted that the controller would normally be taken off duty after an accident like this. “It’s pretty traumatic for that air traffic controller as well,” she said. “We’ll want to interview that air traffic controller as well as others that were in the tower or maybe not even in the tower.”
Another emergency was already unfolding
Before the collision, the same controller was also dealing with a United Airlines flight that reported a bad odor on board. That aircraft did not depart, and emergency vehicles were sent toward it. Investigators are now reviewing how a fire truck was cleared to cross Runway 4 while the Air Canada Express CRJ-900 was landing with 72 passengers and four crew members. Moments later, the jet struck the truck.
That sequence puts communications at the center of the case. Investigators are expected to study what was said between the tower, the arriving aircraft, and the emergency vehicles, along with the exact timing of every instruction and clearance. The NTSB has already recovered the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder, which should help rebuild the final moments in detail.
Reuters also reported that separate air traffic control audio captured the emotional pressure inside the tower after the crash. In that audio, an unidentified controller who appeared to be involved in the event said, “I messed up,” after the collision. That recording has now added another layer to the investigation, especially as officials examine how one emergency may have affected decisions during another.
Staffing questions are back in focus
The crash has also brought attention back to air traffic control staffing and workload at major U.S. airports. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) data showed 80 runway incursions by vehicles or pedestrians in the quarter ended December 31, up from 54 in the same period a year earlier. The NTSB has warned about close calls and runway incursions for years, and last month it said high workload hurt controller performance and situation awareness in the January 2025 mid-air collision between an American Airlines regional jet and an Army helicopter.
Homendy said it is still too early to draw conclusions about staffing at LaGuardia that night. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the airport had 33 air traffic controllers at a facility with a target of 37, and he pushed back on reports that the controller was working alone. He also renewed his call for Congress to provide another $19 billion to complete modernization of the U.S. air traffic control system.
Attribution: Reuters
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