LaGuardia Crash: Controllers Blame Staffing Shortages

0:00On March 27, air traffic controllers say LaGuardia Airport should have called in extra help last Sunday night before an air-candidate jet slammed into. A fire truck, killing both pilots. The crash happened around 11.37 pm, amid weather delays that packed 70 flights into the hour before, way above the usual. 53 on Sunday evenings, or the 31 originally planned. A United Airlines flight had just declared an emergency over a bad smell, prompting a controller to send a fire truck across the runway. That truck ended up right in the path of the incoming air-candidate regional jet, and the controller couldn't stop it in time. With only two controllers on duty in the tower, one was juggling both runway and ground duties. Current and former controllers called the workload heavy for that late hour, when staffing often drops low. They noted that bad weather like icing usually means pulling in more people, or extending shifts. But it didn't happen here.

1:00This is spotlighted ongoing worries about controller shortages at night across U.S. airports. Officials insist LaGuardia had enough staff, with 33 certified controllers in six trainees on site against the goal of 37. Still, experts questioned if combining rules was safe, especially after a 1997 LaGuardia crash led to rules against it before. Midnight rules, who status now, is unclear. The National Transportation Safety Board is digging into tower procedures and multiple factors behind the crash, reminding us these incidents rarely. Boyle down to one thing. That's your U.S. News Today update. AI powered and always on.