Two controllers left early before Air Canada’s fatal LaGuardia crash — and could be fired

Two air traffic controllers left the LaGuardia Airport tower about an hour early on the night an Air Canada jet slammed into a fire truck on the runway, killing both pilots – and the two could be fired for it, according to a government official familiar with the investigation who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The Wall Street Journal first reported the disciplinary push on Thursday.

The departure timing matters because of what was left behind: weather delays had pushed LaGuardia’s late-night traffic to more than double its schedule, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium, and the two remaining controllers were also juggling an emergency on another aircraft. The pair who left were scheduled to be on shift past the time of the 11:37 p.m. crash on March 22 and could have provided crucial backup when the tower got busy, the official said.

The Federal Aviation Administration is pursuing discipline against the two controllers – up to firing them. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy called the early departures “timecard fraud that won’t be tolerated,” and the FAA said it “is committed to holding employees accountable.” The controllers’ union, NATCA, said it “is actively discussing these allegations with FAA leadership.” Experts and retired FAA officials told the AP that leaving early when a break falls at the end of a shift – an “early shove” – is a common practice nationwide, and the agency is negotiating a new contract with the union that it hopes will include a new scheduling model.

The crash, and what investigators know so far

The aircraft was Air Canada Express Flight 8646, a CRJ900 regional jet arriving from Montreal with 76 people aboard, landing at LaGuardia when it collided with a Port Authority fire truck crossing the runway. Pilots Antoine Forest, 30, and Mackenzie Gunther, 24, were the only deaths – the first fatal crash at LaGuardia in 34 years, per the AP – and 39 people were taken to hospitals, six described as seriously injured.

The fire truck had been leading a convoy responding to a strong-odor emergency aboard a departing United Airlines jet. According to the NTSB’s preliminary report released in April, the truck started crossing while warning lights were still lit, a controller yelled “Truck 1, stop, stop, stop,” and the truck’s lack of a transponder meant the tower’s surface monitoring system failed to predict the conflict or sound an alert.

The NTSB declined to comment on the controllers’ early departures. Investigators questioned tower staffing from the start, the AP reported, but have identified other contributing factors too – the official cause won’t be known until the board’s final report, likely sometime next year.

Sources: Associated Press and the NTSB preliminary report via AP.