Air Canada Express plane's black box found, revealing minute-by-minute chaos before the LaGuardia crash

The recovery and analysis of the black box of the CRJ-900 aircraft of Air Canada Express have allowed to reconstruct the three minutes prior to the accident that occurred on March 22 at LaGuardia airport in New York. The accident, which left two pilots dead and more than 40 people hospitalized, exposed failures in emergency coordination and in the use of technology during night operations. The investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board (the U.S. federal transportation safety agency, NTSB) confirmed that the involved fire truck received two stop orders before the impact, although it has not yet been established whether the vehicle's crew perceived these warnings. The extraction of the black box, consisting of the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and the flight data recorder (FDR), required the intervention of a forensic team that drilled through the fuselage roof to access the devices.

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Jennifer Homendy, chair of the NTSB, explained that the information collected was sent to the agency's headquarters in Washington, D.C., for technical analysis. Records reveal that, in the three minutes prior to the accident, the fire truck crossed the runway assigned to the plane, disregarding repeated stop instructions, a key element in defining the causes and responsibilities. The CRJ-900 aircraft of Air Canada Express had departed from Montréal-Trudeau International Airport and was carrying seventy-two passengers and four crew members. Upon landing at LaGuardia, it collided with a fire truck that was driving on the runway in response to a report of an unknown odor on a nearby aircraft. The fatalities, Captain Antoine Forest and First Officer Mackenzie Gunther, died instantly. Another thirty-nine people from the plane, along with two firefighters, were hospitalized. As of March 24, six of the injured remained hospitalized, according to the NTSB. Preliminary information indicates that the fire truck did not have an active transponder, which prevented air traffic controllers from locating the vehicle on the runway in real time. Jennifer Homendy, chair of the NTSB, noted that this aspect will be explored in depth during interviews with the accident survivors. The absence of this device limited the control tower's ability to avoid collision, as it could not track the vehicle's movement on the monitoring system. The procedure to recover the black box was technically demanding. Specialized forensic teams performed a controlled perforation in the aircraft structure, managing to extract the voice and data records intact. According to Doug Brazy, lead investigator for the NTSB, the initial analysis corroborated that the orders to stop the fire truck were given twice before the accident, although the uncertainty about the reception of these warnings by the occupants of the vehicle persists.

The Impact of the Accident and the Authorities' Response

The Air Canada Express accident at LaGuardia occurred during the early hours of March 22, under night operating conditions. The aircraft, in the landing phase, collided with the fire truck, which was on the runway due to an emergency protocol following a report on another aircraft. Sergeant Michael Orsillo, the truck driver, remained under medical care, while Officer Adrian Baez was discharged, according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the binational entity that manages airports and ports in the region. The official statements reported by the NTSB detail that, at the time of the accident, two air traffic controllers were performing simultaneous duties in the tower, a common practice at LaGuardia during the midnight shift. This information rules out, for the moment, a staff shortage or lack of supervision as direct causes of the accident. The cockpit voice recorder (CVR) provided precise data on the sequence of communications prior to the collision. The device recorded the tower's attempts to warn the truck of the imminent arrival of the plane, without an effective response from the emergency vehicle. The NTSB's upcoming interviews with the survivors will be crucial in determining whether there were any interferences or misunderstandings in the reception of the orders.

Location Technology and Emergency Protocols Under Review

The investigation focuses on the absence of the transponder in the fire truck, which is essential for safe runway management. If the vehicle had been equipped with this equipment, the air traffic controllers could have monitored its position and avoided crossing paths with aircraft in operation. The NTSB is examining whether there were procedural errors, failures in internal communication, or organizational deficiencies that contributed to the tragedy. The incident reignited the debate on updating vehicle location systems and strengthening coordination between the control tower and emergency teams, especially during the night shift. The experts consulted by the agency point out that tracking technology is a standard in large airports and that its absence increases operational safety risks.

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Research Perspectives and Next Steps

Until March 25, the NTSB continued to analyze the black box, interviewing the surviving firefighters and reviewing the protocols of LaGuardia. Jennifer Homendy, chair of the agency, noted that there is no indication that staff fatigue has affected the reception of orders, although the investigation into human factors remains open. The Air Canada Express accident at LaGuardia led authorities and the international aeronautical community to focus on technological infrastructure and training policies in airport emergencies. The preliminary results of the technical investigation will determine the recommendations to avoid similar events, while family members of the victims and sector organizations await the final findings.