An air traffic controller was heard saying: “‘Truck One, stop, stop, stop!” seconds before the crash.
Investigators on Tuesday released details from the final three minutes of cockpit voice recordings and tower communications, including that controllers had cleared both the plane and a fire truck to cross the runway.
National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy said the inquiry was ongoing and would include interviews with the two controllers on duty on Sunday night.
She also noted that a ground radar system that could have provided an alert before the collision failed to do so, and the truck lacked a transponder, that would have helped the radar system detect it.
Calling the US air traffic control system “old” and in need of an upgrade, Homendy urged against assigning blame.
“Controllers should have all the information and the tools to do their job,” she said. “You have to have information on the ground movements, whether that’s aircraft or vehicles… this is 2026.”
She added that air traffic controllers have long raised concerns about under-staffing, describing the tower as a “high-workload environment” where, when something goes wrong, “many things have gone wrong”.