NEW YORK (AP) — Federal investigators say a runway warning system didn’t trigger an alarm before an Air Canada jet and a fire truck collided at New York’s LaGuardia Airport.
National Transportation Safety Board chairwoman Jennifer Homendy said during a news conference Tuesday that the system didn’t work as intended because the fire truck did not have a transponder.
The plane carrying more than 70 people slammed into the fire truck while landing late Sunday night, killing the two pilots and injuring several passengers. Most, though, were able to escape the mangled aircraft, and a flight attendant still strapped in her seat survived after being thrown onto the tarmac.
Many questions remain about why the airport fire truck was crossing the runway while the plane was landing and why it didn't stop despite frantic, last-second warnings from the control tower.
Homendy said NTSB investigators have not yet had a chance to review data from the flight data recorder, but that she has seen surveillance video and still needs to interview the firefighters in the truck to find out whether they braked or turned to avoid a collision.
Investigators also want to know more about the role of the air traffic controllers and whether they were distracted while juggling a late night emergency with another plane.
The crash came at a time of increasing frustration with air travel in the U.S., caused by long security lines because of the government shutdown, winter storms and rising costs.
While flights resumed Monday at LaGuardia — the New York region’s third busiest airport — the runway where the collision happened was still closed.
About one quarter of the airport's flights were cancelled Tuesday, according to FlightAware.com, and there were significant delays averaging more than four hours. But it did not appear the cancellations were spilling over to other airports around the U.S.
The wreckage from the crash remained on the closed runway, which is likely to stay shut down for days during the investigation, according to Jennifer Homendy, chair of the NTSB.
Investigators need to sift through a lot of debris, she said.
Authorities recovered the plane’s cockpit and flight data recorders by cutting a hole in the aircraft’s roof and then drove them to the NTSB lab in Washington for analysis, Homendy said.
There were 72 passengers and four crew members aboard the Jazz Aviation flight that originated in Montreal and was operating on behalf of Air Canada, according to the airline.
About 40 people, including the two from the fire truck, were taken to hospitals. Some suffered serious injuries, but by Monday morning, most had been released, and others walked away without needing treatment.
The pilot and copilot who died in the first fatal crash at LaGuardia in 34 years were both based out of Canada, said Kathryn Garcia, executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the airport.
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Seewer reported from Toledo, Ohio, and Funk reported from Omaha, Nebraska. Associated Press reporter Rob Gillies in Toronto contributed.
