“It has been a really big challenge to get the entire team here," NTSB chairwoman Jennifer Homendy said of the specialists investigating the LaGuardia crash
Credit: NTSBgov/Youtube
NEED TO KNOW
- A passenger jet and a firetruck collided at LaGuardia Airport in New York City on March 22, leaving two dead and several injured
- The NTSB investigation into the LaGuardia crash was delayed due to travel challenges caused by the partial government shutdown
- NTSB chairwoman Jennifer Homendy said the specialists needed were stuck in their respective cities because of long TSA security lines at airports across the country
The ongoing partial government shutdown delayed the investigation into a deadly crash at LaGuardia Airport.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) chairwoman, Jennifer Homendy, said during a press conference on Monday, March 23, that the investigation was delayed because the specialists needed were stuck in their respective cities due to long security lines at airports around the country.
Homendy explained that one investigator was stuck in Houston waiting in a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) line for three hours. The investigator was able to get through after the NTSB had to “beg” the TSA for assistance with getting the investigator through.
Homendy herself drove from Washington, D.C. to New York, saying, “It has been a really big challenge to get the entire team here.” She noted some team members will be arriving around 1 a.m. on Tuesday, March 24.
She did not provide any additional information regarding the victims or the air traffic control tower staff.
On Sunday, March 22, around 11:40 p.m. local time, Air Canada Flight 8646 collided with a Port Authority of New York and New Jersey firetruck that was responding to a separate incident. Crew members of a United Airlines flight reported an odor in the cabin and requested assistance, according to CBS News and WABC-TV.
Air traffic control audio showed that the firetruck was initially given the go-ahead to cross, but was then urgently warned to stop. It’s unclear what the firetruck crew did in the moments leading up to the collision.
Two pilots died, including pilot Antoine Forest, and 41 passengers and crew members were hospitalized, a Port Authority spokesperson previously confirmed to PEOPLE. 32 of the victims were released, while others sustained serious injuries, The New York Times reported.
One of the occupants was flight attendant Solange Tremblay, who survived being ejected from the aircraft, her daughter, Sarah Lépine, told Quebec’s TVA News.
Lépine said her mother suffered multiple bone fractures and has been hospitalized for a broken leg after being ejected more than 320 feet from the plane.
“It’s a complete miracle. At the moment of impact, her seat was ejected more than 100 meters from the plane. They found her and she was still strapped into her seat,” Lépine told TVA News. “She had a guardian angel watching over her. It could have been much worse.” She will undergo surgery at the hospital.
Passenger Rebecca Liquori, 35, recalled feeling the collision. “As we were descending, we hit a lot of turbulence,” Liquori told News 12. “Then we landed very roughly… Everyone felt it. It was like the plane jolted and you heard the pilot try to brake trying to prevent the collision.”
It was seconds later that they felt the impact and “everybody jolted out of their seats.”
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The plane remained on the runway for over 12 hours; the runway is expected to remain closed for days, The New York Times reported. Around two hours after the plane was removed, LaGuardia Airport reopened.
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