LaGuardia Air Traffic Controller Says 'I Messed Up' as NTSB Opens Investigation Into Fatal Air Canada Crash

The recordings emerged Monday afternoon as federal investigators descended on LaGuardia Airport: an air traffic controller, seconds after an Air Canada Express regional jet plowed into a Port Authority fire truck at approximately 100 miles per hour, was heard on tape saying, "I tried to reach out to my staff, and we were dealing with an emergency earlier and I messed up." Those three words — captured on communications equipment and quickly obtained by news organizations — now sit at the center of a National Transportation Safety Board investigation that officials say will take 12 to 18 months to complete.

Flight 8646, a CRJ-900 regional jet operated by Jazz Aviation on behalf of Air Canada, was on final approach to runway 4 at LaGuardia just before midnight Sunday when it struck the fire-rescue vehicle that had been dispatched to assist with a separate incident: a United Airlines flight that had aborted its takeoff moments earlier. According to FAA Administrator Brad Bedford, who spoke at a press conference Monday afternoon at the airport, the fire truck received clearance from the control tower to cross the runway before a controller then issued an urgent command to stop. The truck did not stop in time. The aircraft struck it at speed, killing both pilots — both Canadian nationals whose names have not yet been officially released — and injuring 41 of the 72 passengers and 4 crew members on board.

Among the injured were two Port Authority police officers riding the fire truck: Sergeant Michael Orsillo and Officer Adrian Baez, both of whom suffered fractures but were expected to survive. Of the 41 people initially hospitalized, 32 had been released by Monday afternoon. Nine remained in serious condition, including one patient with a brain bleed. The crash marks the first fatal accident at LaGuardia Airport in more than three decades, according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

The NTSB recovered both the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder from the aircraft within hours of the crash. Former NTSB Chair Robert Sumwalt, speaking on CNN Monday, said investigators would examine multiple factors: whether the controller was working alone, whether the Airport Surface Detection Equipment — radar designed to track ground vehicles near runways — was functioning correctly, whether any collision alerts were generated before impact, and whether staffing shortages contributed to the breakdown. The Department of Homeland Security has been shut down for 38 days as Congress and the Trump White House remain deadlocked over funding, leaving the TSA operating with a depleted workforce. The NTSB said it would look at whether that broader operational pressure affected staffing at the LaGuardia tower.

More than 600 flights into or out of LaGuardia were canceled Monday, according to flight-tracking service FlightAware. The airport, which closed immediately following the crash at approximately 11:40 p.m. Sunday, partially reopened at 2 p.m. Monday after one runway was cleared. The runway where the collision occurred is expected to remain closed until Friday morning. LaGuardia is one of the busiest airports in the United States, handling more than 31 million passengers annually, and Monday's cancellations rippled outward, causing cascading delays at airports across the Northeast. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said his department would provide full cooperation with the NTSB and described the crash as "a tragedy that demands answers." He added that the FAA would review its runway incursion protocols in light of the accident — a review that aviation safety advocates have long said is overdue.