Photo: Getty Images
New close-up images of the Air Canada jet that crashed into a fire truck resulting in the death of both its pilot and co-pilot and more than 40 others sustaining injuries were obtained and shared by the New York Post.
The photos show the twisted wreckage of Air Canada Express Flight 8646 after its collision late Sunday (March 22) night at LaGuardia Airport. The destroyed CJR-900 was moved to a hangar as passengers' personal items were collected on Wednesday (March 25).
The pilot and co-pilot killed in the crash were identified as Antoine Forest and Mackenzie Gunther. A female flight attendant was ejected through the front of the aircraft during the crash but managed to survive as Port Authority officers rescued her and brought her to a hospital, the sources said.
The cockpit recorder on Air Canada Flight 8646 revealed its doomed final three minutes before the crash Sunday night. National Transportation Safety Board senior aviation investigator Doug Brazy shared a detailed recap of the moments leading up to the collision during an update on Tuesday (March 24) via the New York Post.
The approach controller reportedly instructed the Air Canada pilots to contact LaGuardia tower 3 minutes and 7 seconds before touching down in New York and flight crew lowered the landing gear at 2 minutes, 45 seconds before the accident. LaGuardia cleared the Air Canada jet to land on Runway 4, where the crash took place, and advised that it was second in line for landing 2 minutes, 27 seconds before the crash and its checklist for landing was complete at 1 minute, 12 seconds prior to the accident.
An airport vehicle made a radio transmission to the tower, but it was blocked by another yet to be identified radio transmission at 1 minute, 3 seconds before the crash. The fire truck requested to cross Runway 4, which the tower cleared, within 20 to 28 seconds before the crash. The tower instructed the truck to stop multiple times within the final 10 seconds before the crash occurred and the recording ended.
The fire truck involved in a deadly collision with an Air Canada jet at New York's LaGuardia Airport didn't trigger an alarm prior to the accident, National Transportation Safety Board chairwoman Jennifer Homendy revealed during a press conference Tuesday via the Associated Press. Questions remain on why the fire truck was crossing the runway as the plane was landing and didn't stop despite a last-second warning from air traffic control.
Homendy had previously confirmed that she will lead an investigation into "multiple failures" that likely resulted in the deadly crash during an appearance on FOX & Friends earlier on Tuesday.
“We have found in all of our investigations that it is not a single error that led to a terrible tragedy,” she said. “Our aviation system is incredibly safe and it takes multiple failures to occur for an accident like this.
“So we’re going to look very comprehensively.”
Frantic air traffic control audio from the moments before and after the crash was released and includes one person saying "I messed up."
Air traffic controllers urged a separate incoming Frontier plane to go around the crash after the accident occurred on Runway 4 late Sunday night. The truck was cleared to cross the runway before the air traffic controllers urged the Frontier plane and the truck to stop.
“Stop, stop, stop, stop,” the controller said frantically. “Truck 1, stop, stop, stop. Stop, Truck 1. Stop.”
A Delta flight was then ordered to go around before the controller turned attention back to the Air Canada/Jazz Aviation plane that had just arrived from Montreal.
“Jazz 646, I see you collided with the vehicle. Just hold position. I know you can’t move. Vehicles are responding to you now,” the air traffic controller said.
Air traffic controllers told the Frontier crew that the runway would be closed and asked if the plane could go back to the ramp.
“We got stuff in progress for that, man, that wasn’t good to watch,” Frontier pilots said.
“Yeah, I tried to reach out to ‘em … And we were dealing with an emergency, and I messed up,” the controller replied.
“No, you did the best you could,” the Frontier crew responded.
Two police officers on the Port Authority rescue truck at the time of the crash were among the 41 people hospitalized. Kathryn Garcia, the Port Authority executive director, confirmed to reporters that 32 of the people hospitalized had already been released while others were "seriously injured," though not elaborating on that total. The hospitalized passengers received treatment at Elmhurst or Queens Presbyterian hospitals, a source with knowledge of the situation confirmed to NBC News.