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The NTSB news conference is underway. NTSB chair Jennifer Homandy says today was the investigating team's first full day on scene after some team members faced "significant" travel delays due to long lines caused by a partial government shutdown in the U.S., which is affecting airport security. 

So, how did the firefighters survive the collision?

Kurtz says aircraft firefighting trucks are different from conventional firetrucks. 

"Those trucks are essentially a tank on wheels so you've got to imagine that there is a tremendous amount of structure around them," he said.

Kurtz explained that these vehicles are developed to fight fire from the truck itself instead of from the ground, because aircraft fires often involve fuel spillages that create dynamic and moving situations.

Louis Kurtz, the owner of ARFF Specialists, an aircraft firefighter training institution, says it would have been difficult for the two firefighters aboard the truck that collided with the plane to stop after they were told it was safe to cross the runway. 

"That truck [carries] about 1,500 gallons of water," he said, noting that vehicles of that size, often exceeding 60,000 pounds, cannot stop quickly even with brakes fully engaged.

Despite the severity of the collision, Kurtz says the outcome could have been much worse had the plane's fuel containers burst, potentially causing a fiery explosion.

"If we would have lost those fuels, this could have created a very, very terrible situation," he said. "In some regards, this is not as bad as it could have been."

The NTSB news conference had been scheduled for 1:30 p.m. ET, but now appears to have been bumped to 2 p.m. ET.

The air traffic controller's reported admission in the moments after the deadly runway collision at LaGuardia is striking, but not unusual in aviation.

It reflects a culture built on blunt honesty and accountability, where errors are openly acknowledged to prevent future disasters.

That ethos is sometimes traced to the so-called "Asoh Defence," named after Kohei Asoh, the captain of Japan Air Lines Flight 2. After accidentally landing his plane short of the runway in San Francisco Bay in 1968, Asoh famously told investigators: "I f--ked up."

All 107 people on board survived, and his admission became emblematic of an industry approach that prioritizes lessons learned, over blame.

Modern accident investigations rely heavily on this kind of openness. Cockpit voice recorders, air traffic control audio and detailed testimony are used to reconstruct what happened and why.

In the LaGuardia case, investigators are now working to piece together those factors after a controller, working an overnight shift, cleared both a landing aircraft and a vehicle onto the same runway.

Reuters

According to air traffic audio posted by liveatc.net, an unidentified controller who appears to be the one involved in the crash told another pilot after the collision that he had been dealing with an emergency earlier.

"I messed up," he said in a shaken voice.

In earlier audio, he can be heard telling the emergency truck to "stop" at least 10 times.

Air traffic controllers routinely handle multiple flights, and four commercial pilots told Reuters it was not uncommon to have one controller covering both the ground and tower — two distinct air traffic control roles — at LaGuardia and other major metropolitan airports.

In a news conference yesterday, Homendy said the collision shortly before midnight on Sunday happened during an overnight shift for the controller.

U.S. Air safety experts said communications between the plane that was landing, the controller and the trucks would be key areas of the investigation.

Reuters

LaGuardia airport is facing significant delays and cancellations for the second straight day.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (⁠FAA) ​said it does not expect the closed runway at the New York airport to reopen until Friday.

FlightAware, a flight tracking site, said more than 500 flights had been cancelled or delayed by noon ET. 

The ⁠FAA has warned of major ⁠delays throughout the day. 

Reuters

U.S. National Transportation Safety ‌Board chair Jennifer Homendy is holding a news conference this afternoon to detail some findings from the cockpit and flight data recorders that were recovered from the ⁠Air Canada Express jet, operated by regional partner Jazz Aviation.

The NTSB also plans to interview an air traffic controller who was juggling another emergency in the run-up to the crash.

The investigation is U.S.-led, but the Transportation Safety Board of Canada will also take part.

Pilots Antoine Forest, from Coteau-du-Lac, Que., and Mackenzie Gunther were killed when Air ⁠Canada Express Flight 8646, coming from Montreal, collided with a Port Authority firetruck at New York's LaGuardia airport late Sunday night. 

Air traffic audio indicates the fire truck was cleared to cross the runway before the collision. "I messed up," a controller can be heard saying afterward. 

But as of late Monday, authorities are offering few details about the cause of the crash or air traffic control staffing, saying the investigation will take time. Investigators say they've recovered the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder.

The airport resumed operations this afternoon, but the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board says LaGuardia's main runway, where the crash occurred, will be closed for days while evidence is gathered. 

More than 40 people were hospitalized following the crash.

The two occupants of the fire truck were taken to hospital but are expected to be released, and a flight attendant who was thrown from the plane will need surgery for multiple fractures to one leg, according to her daughter.

The flight was carrying 72 passengers. 

This question can't yet be answered with certainty, but some clues exist. 

First, reverse thrust appears to have been used. This can be seen on the engines mounted on the plane's tail. It is typical on landing that pilots will activate the reverse thrust, where the engine casing slides back to redirect airflow forward. 

In photos of the wreckage, the engine casing appears to be in position to provide reverse thrust. 

The flight data recorder, now recovered, will indicate whether pilots activated maximum reverse thrust, possibly after spotting the truck. The cockpit voice recorder, also now recovered, would likely contain reaction from the pilots. 

Both were killed. 

Passenger Clément Lelièvre told The Canadian Press he believed the pilots had reacted. 

"Just as the plane touched down, the pilot braked extremely hard," said Lelièvre, a French national and frequent flyer.

This type of aircraft also has brakes on the landing gear. Both the brakes and the reverse thrust can be applied at varying levels, much like the brakes on a car. 

Data from the tracking site Flightradar24 also shows the aircraft deviating to the right of the centre line as it rumbled down the runway, immediately before the crossing with taxiway D, where the collision occurred. 

While it is possible the pilots steered the aircraft to avoid the fire truck, which had approached from the left, none of this is definitive.

But it will fuel questions about whether the pilots saw the fire truck enter the runway, and attempted to avoid it.

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