Passengers at New York’s LaGuardia Airport can see the remnants of Air Canada Express Flight 8646, which remains beside Runway 4 after a late Sunday collision with a fire truck. The plane was carrying 72 passengers and four crew members from Montreal at the time.
The wreckage will stay put until the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) finishes its investigation. NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy mentioned that Runway 4 might be closed for several days as the team sorts through a significant amount of debris.
On Tuesday morning, planes from Spirit and United Airlines passed by the site, giving onlookers a glimpse of what happened. A bright yellow aircraft was spotted near the destruction, where debris was strewn around a damaged regional jet and an overturned fire truck.
The cause of the accident is still under investigation, with air traffic controllers having cleared both the landing plane and the fire truck, which was responding to a separate emergency at the time.
Pilots Antoine Forrest, 30, and Mackenzie Gunther, 38, lost their lives in the crash when their plane’s nose struck the center of the fire truck around 11:38 p.m. The impact decimated the cockpit, and flight attendant Solange Tremblay was thrown from the aircraft while secured in her jump seat. Surprisingly, she survived but required surgery on her foot.
A total of 41 individuals, comprising both passengers and crew members, were taken to hospitals.
In light of a partial government shutdown, staffing shortages have complicated operations, leading to numerous flight cancellations across the country. Despite the wreckage, LaGuardia has resumed limited services on the other runway, but the facility remains challenging for pilots due to its crowded and compact layout, which features only two intersecting runways.
With LaGuardia’s runway measuring about 7,000 feet, it’s shorter than other major airport runways, such as those at Newark and JFK, which are often longer than 10,000 feet. The intersecting layout is less efficient compared to parallel runway configurations seen at many U.S. airports.
This situation could mean passengers flying in and out of LaGuardia this week will pass by the site of the wreck, which might be unsettling for those who are already anxious about flying.
During a Tuesday news conference at Terminal B, Homendy revealed that there were two control tower employees working, juggling multiple tasks, which is common during late-night shifts at LaGuardia. She described the environment as “high-stress” and mentioned that distractions might have played a role.
The Air Canada flight was reportedly traveling at 163 mph when it collided with the fire truck, as per Flightradar 24.
The FAA is looking into whether the air traffic controllers might have been distracted when the crash occurred, particularly because of an incident involving a nearby United Airlines flight, which had to abort takeoff after its crew reported feeling ill from a strange odor.
A report states that air traffic controllers had ordered the Port Authority fire engine to cross the runway in response to the United Airlines flight while the Air Canada plane was landing.
Disturbing audio released from the control tower shows that the crew realized too late about the impending collision. Commands like “Stop, stop, stop!” can be heard, with the controller acknowledging the failure to avert the disaster.
Homendy indicated that it might be “premature” to solely blame the air traffic controllers on the audio, assuring that multiple failures are being investigated.
