On March 22, an Air Canada plane crashed into a Port Authority fire truck on the runway at LaGuardia Airport. The collision attracted nationwide attention as it resulted in the tragic deaths of two pilots and injuries to dozens of passengers.
LaGuardia Airport is a major air traffic center in New York City that carries tens of millions of passengers each year, according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
The event took place unexpectedly when the Air Canada Express plane almost landed, arriving from Montreal. It was reported that the firefighting vehicle it collided with was called only a few minutes before the accident. According to BBC News, a staff member at air traffic control working at LaGuardia Airport was heard yelling “Stop! Stop! Stop!” from the tower just seconds before the crash.
With over 40 passengers on the plane sent to local hospitals for further care, authorities like the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) immediately began careful investigations about the cause of the tragedy. Although the institute stated that an accurate examination of the cause will await more details to be confirmed and published, the cockpit voice recorder has shown at least some causes that might have led to the event.
Officials with the NTSB released information from the last few seconds of cockpit voice recording that the truck was given clearance to cross the runway 20 seconds before the crash. Realizing the upcoming danger just nine seconds before the collision, the control tower told the truck to stop.
The NTSB has designated multiple groups as in charge of different parts of the investigation. The system investigative group will take time to look at the plane’s hydraulic, electrical, navigational, pneumatic and associated systems. The structure group is expected to document the airframe wreckage along with the accident scene, serving for more accurate recreation of the impact angles. Moreover, there is also an operations group that is responsible for looking at the operator and improving training for the aircraft.
The institution showed great emphasis on the event, as they announced that they expect 25 specialists on site as part of the probe, collaborating with five additional members of its transportation disaster assistance team. They promised to provide timely information and resources to the loved ones of those who were involved in the accident by letting their team work with the American Red Cross.
Despite complex safety ensuring procedures at LaGuardia Airport, the tragedy was not successfully prevented. Investigators indicate that their plan is to go through an overview of the cockpit voice recorder once again. They will also try to see what the two pilots — Antoine Forest and Mackenzie Gunther — said before the collision.
Currently, there appears to be confusion on who exactly in the control tower gave permission to the fire truck on the runway designated for the landing of the airplane. It is only known that there were two people in the tower at the time.
Even though the entire event happened unexpectedly, the pilots of the plane sacrificed their lives and fought till the last few seconds to save the lives of all the passengers on board. A passenger said that she is “forever indebted to the pilot’s quick instinct to stop the plane.” “Without that effort, there would have been more deaths and further harm,” she told a CNN reporter.
Other passengers also reacted, thankful for the fact that they returned safely. Many passengers said they felt like they “won the biggest lotto in their life” and were “extremely grateful” the moment they opened their eyes after the crash. Whatever the two pilots did in the last moment, either pulling a brake or trying to divert the landing route of the airplane, saved the lives of more than 43 passengers and prevented a mass casualty incident. “They will forever live in my heart as heroes,” multiple passengers said.