LaGuardia crash sparks staffing workload concerns
New York’s LaGuardia Airport was unusually busy late Sunday night before an Air Canada Express regional jet collided with a fire truck, and several current and former U.S. air traffic controllers say additional staff likely should have been assigned to help manage the workload.
Weather-related disruptions caused significant delays, resulting in 70 commercial flights taking off or landing between 10:00 p.m. and 11:37 p.m., the time of the crash involving a CRJ-900 aircraft that killed both pilots. Aviation data firm Cirium reports that the typical number of flights during that time period on Sunday evenings in March since 2022 has been about 53, while only 31 flights had originally been scheduled for the night of the incident.
Six controllers interviewed described the workload that evening as heavy. Five said it is common practice for controllers to remain beyond their scheduled shifts or for additional personnel to be called in when flight activity exceeds expectations.
The situation was further complicated when a United Airlines flight declared an emergency due to a reported odor in the aircraft. According to audio published by LiveATC.net, an air traffic controller authorized a fire truck to cross the runway to respond to the emergency but later realized the vehicle was in the path of the approaching Air Canada aircraft. The controller attempted to stop the vehicle, but the warning came too late.
The accident has renewed concerns about air traffic controller workload in the United States, particularly during late-night hours when staffing levels are typically reduced. At night, staffing may be limited to two controllers, with one person sometimes responsible for overseeing both runway operations and ground vehicle movement.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy stated Monday that LaGuardia had 33 fully certified controllers and six trainees at the facility, slightly below its staffing target of 37 certified controllers.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which is investigating the crash, confirmed that two controllers were working in the control tower at the time of the incident. Experts reviewing publicly available audio believe the controller may have been handling both ground and local control duties simultaneously, although investigators have not yet confirmed whether those responsibilities were formally combined.
Ray Adams, a retired air traffic controller from nearby Newark Airport, said combining positions during periods of heavy traffic is uncommon in his experience. An NTSB report into a 1997 runway collision at LaGuardia had previously led to procedures intended to prevent combining local and ground control roles before midnight at the airport, though it remains unclear whether those procedures are still in place.
A spokesperson for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey directed questions about current procedures to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which oversees U.S. air traffic control operations. The FAA has not yet commented on whether such rules currently apply at LaGuardia.
Investigators emphasize that aviation accidents typically involve multiple contributing factors. NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said it is too early to determine the exact causes of the collision.
One current controller in the New York area noted that when weather causes delays, controllers often remain on duty longer than scheduled to help manage increased traffic.
“The weather wasn’t great, and there was still a significant number of flights arriving at LaGuardia,” the controller said, speaking anonymously because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
Weather reports from the evening indicated icing conditions both at ground level and in the atmosphere, which can slow flight operations and contribute to delays. An industry source said the United Airlines flight involved in the earlier emergency had aborted takeoff twice due to a malfunction in its anti-ice system. United Airlines declined to comment.
According to the NTSB, the controller involved in the collision was not immediately relieved from duty afterward, which the agency described as standard practice. In later radio communications, the controller acknowledged the earlier emergency situation and expressed distress.
“I messed up,” the controller said in a shaken voice.
A pilot who had witnessed the crash responded with reassurance, saying, “No, you did the best you could.”
