{"id":873836,"date":"2026-08-27T22:48:17","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T22:48:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/873836\/"},"modified":"2026-08-27T22:48:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T22:48:17","slug":"laguardia-air-traffic-controllers-left-work-early-before-fatal-air-canada-collision-source-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/873836\/","title":{"rendered":"LaGuardia air traffic controllers left work early before fatal Air Canada collision, source says"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph_elevate\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmtbuzvhq000x27qd64iq2veu@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            Two LaGuardia Airport air traffic controllers in the control tower left work early the night an Air Canada Express flight collided with an airport fire truck on the runway, according to a source familiar with the investigation into the March 22 crash.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph_elevate\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmtbv5dv900043b6rnpbwcrl6@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            The two pilots of Air Canada Express Flight 8646 were killed when the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2026\/03\/24\/us\/laguardia-airplane-rescue-truck-collision\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">jet collided with an airport fire truck<\/a> just after landing. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2026\/03\/23\/us\/timeline-air-canada-collision-laguardia-vis\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">fire truck had been crossing the taxiway<\/a> to respond to an incident across the airport. The plane had 72 passengers and four crew members on board for the one-hour flight from Montreal to New York\u2019s LaGuardia, dozens of whom were injured.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph_elevate\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmtbv5dv900053b6rxb4rdvcv@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            The Federal Aviation Administration is now considering disciplinary action against the controllers, the source said, adding that their departure was not by \u201cjust a few minutes.\u201d Both FAA controllers are currently on leave, according to the source, and are not currently responsible for controlling air traffic.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph_elevate\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmtbv5dv900063b6r2uhmecs2@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            The new details were first reported by the Wall Street Journal as the National Transportation Safety Board <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2026\/03\/25\/us\/laguardia-collision-investigation\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">continues to investigate<\/a> the crash. The agency\u2019s final report \u2014and a finding of probable cause and contributing factors \u2014 is not likely to be published for another six months.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph_elevate\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmtbv5dv900073b6r08bnzz3d@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            \u201cThe FAA is committed to holding employees accountable, and we will not compromise the safety or efficiency of the National Airspace System,\u201d the agency said in a statement.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph_elevate\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmtbv5dv900083b6rrhbefjpj@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            The union which represents air traffic controllers, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, would not confirm that controllers were being disciplined, but said the union is \u201cactively discussing these allegations with FAA leadership.\u201d\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph_elevate\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmtbv5dv900093b6rxpw18b2x@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            \u201cWe believe those discussions are the appropriate forum for addressing the matter,\u201d the union said in a statement.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph_elevate\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmtbv5dv9000a3b6rj398agxe@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            Both NATCA and the FAA are considered parties to the NTSB investigation, which typically muzzles such organizations from commenting publicly on a crash until a final report has been published. CNN has reached out to the NTSB for comment.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph_elevate\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmtbv5dv9000b3b6rzi4ip4yy@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            \u201cWe will not tolerate fraud, and we are taking appropriate action to hold folks accountable and prevent unlawful practices from disrupting the traveling public,\u201d Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a statement. \u201cBut when a small percentage of individuals take advantage of the American taxpayer, unfairly add additional work to their fellow controllers, and impact the airspace \u2013 we have no choice but to act.\u201d\n    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two LaGuardia Airport air traffic controllers in the control tower left work early the night an Air Canada&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":873837,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[45,49,48],"class_list":["post-873836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=873836"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873836\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/873837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=873836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=873836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=873836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}