Audio from LaGuardia air traffic control reveals chaotic moments before crash
Audio from LaGuardia’s air traffic control revealed a controller pleaded for a fire truck to ‘stop’ before it crashed with the Air Canada jet.
The chaos began as the fire truck raced across the runway to another aircraft, which was reporting a minor emergency unrelated to the crash.
The fire truck was cleared to cross the airport’s Runway 4 before air traffic controllers frantically urged a Frontier plane bound for Miami – and the vehicle – to stop.
‘Truck One, stop, stop, stop!’ an air traffic controller is heard saying, before addressing the plane seconds later: ‘JAZZ 646, I see you collided with the vehicle. Just hold position. I know you can’t move. Vehicles are responding to you now.’
Air traffic controllers told the Frontier crew that the runway would be closed, asking if they would like to return to the ramp.
‘We got stuff in progress for that man, that wasn’t good to watch,’ a Frontier pilot said.
‘Yeah, I tried to reach out to them. We were dealing with an emergency, and I messed up,’ the controller replied, before the Frontier pilot tries to reassure him, saying: ‘No, you did the best you could.’
The flight was affiliated with Jazz Aviation, a regional airline in Nova Scotia, and was operating on behalf of Air Canada.
Two pilots were left dead following the collision, and 41 people were hospitalised.
