LaGuardia Airport crash: What to know about travel impact, investigation

A Sunday night collision between an Air Canada plane and a firefighting vehicle at New York City’s LaGuardia Airport has left two pilots dead and dozens of people injured, officials said.

Around 11:40 p.m. a Jazz Aviation flight that was functioning on the part of Air Canada was landing at the airport when it hit a Port Authority fire and rescue vehicle, which had been on the runway in response to a different matter.

Preliminary data showed that the flight, which was coming to the airport from Montreal, had 72 passengers plus four crew members, according to a statement from Jazz Aviation.

Gov. Kathy Hochul called the crash "heartbreaking," noting that, "Our thoughts are with the victims, their families, and everyone affected."

Here’s what to know about the crash and its aftermath:

How will the crash impact travel?

After the crash, LaGuardia Airport will remain closed until at least 2 p.m., officials said. As of about 1 p.m. Monday, the Queens airport had roughly 600 cancellations and 98 total delays, according to FlightAware, an aviation company that tracks flights.

The deadly crash happened as a number of airports across the country experienced delays as unpaid Transportation Security Agency staff call out during the partial federal government shutdown.

What led to the crash?

The night of the crash the Port Authority firefighting and rescue vehicle was on the runway after responding to the report of an odor on a United Airlines flight, aviation officials said Monday morning.

Near midnight, the plane struck the vehicle as it landed, killing the two pilots. Forty-one people on the aircraft were taken to a hospital; 32 have been discharged, Port Authority officials said Monday morning. A sergeant, along with a Port Authority officer, were also listed as being in stable condition.

Michael McCormick, an air traffic management professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida, previously told Newsday that the crash "would have been like hitting a wall."

Shortly after the collision, an air traffic controller is reported as saying, "I messed up," according to a recording acquired by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

The air traffic controller who permitted that Port Authority vehicle to go onto the runway could have been doing tasks typically completed by two people, according to two aviation experts who spoke to Newsday.

"Normally, in an operation like this, one controller is working the ground traffic, the vehicles, the taxiing aircraft, [while] another controller is working the arriving and departing aircraft," said McCormick, who has taken part in federal government crash investigations.

Staff shortages among air traffic controllers’ ranks have long plagued the Federal Aviation Administration. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said a "high workload during a period of elevated traffic" was one of several drivers leading to a deadly midair crash involving a military helicopter and a passenger jet at Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C., last year. Sixty-seven people died in that incident.

What to know about the investigation?

The NTSB said it’s sending an investigation team to the site of the crash.

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said on social media that he would be traveling to the crash site.

Speaking to reporters at Palm Beach International Airport in Florida, President Donald Trump called the crash, "terrible," noting without providing further details, "They made a mistake."

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a statement posted on social media that he has spoken with NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy and added that he will "be watching like a hawk to make sure the NTSB and local authorities get to the bottom of this."

"Two pilots lost their lives and dozens of New Yorkers were injured, and we owe it to them and their families to find out exactly how this happened," he said.

By Tiffany Cusaac-Smith

tiffany.cusaac-smith@newsday.com@T_Cusaac

Tiffany Cusaac-Smith is a general assignment reporter for Newsday. She previously worked at USA TODAY and is an alum of Howard University.