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The Lead with Jake Tapper
New Video Shows Moment Air Canada Plane And Fire Truck Collide; Iran Denies Talks With U.S. As Trump Claims Points Of Agreement; Trump Touts Results Of Memphis Law Enforcement Surge; NTSB: Recovered Flight Data & Cockpit Voice Recorders. Aired 6-7p ET
Aired March 23, 2026 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to The Lead. I'm Phil Mattingly in for Jake Tapper.
We start this hour with breaking news out of New York's LaGuardia Airport. The National Transportation Safety Board investigators are on the scene of Sunday night's deadly crash. In just moments, we expect them to give an update on what led to an Air Canada plane smashing into a fire truck as it landed.
LaGuardia Airport itself is back open, but the runway where the crash happened will be closed until at least Friday morning, which could lead to more flight delays and cancelations.
CNN's Shimon Prokupecz takes a closer look at new video and audio shedding light on the moments leading up to the crash.
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SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): New video shows the moment of a deadly collision between an Air Canada plane and a fire truck at LaGuardia Airport. Ten seconds after giving the truck permission to cross the runway, the air traffic controller frantically warns it to wait.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stop, stop, stop, stop, Truck One. Stop, stop, stop. Stop, Truck One. Stop, Truck One, stop.
PROKUPECZ: But it was too late to stop the collision that killed two pilots and injured.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: JAZZ 646, I see you collided with the vehicle, just hold position. I know you can't move. Vehicles are responding to you now.
PROKUPECZ: The Air Canada plane was going 104 miles an hour when it T- boned the truck.
Passenger Rebecca Liquori described the moments just before the crash. REBECCA LIQUORI, AIR CANADA PASSENGER: You heard the pilot try to brake, like he was trying to prevent the collision that occurred. And as you heard the brake, you just -- a couple seconds later, it was just a very loud boom and everybody just jolted out of their seats. People hit their heads. People were bleeding.
PROKUPECZ: 41 passengers and 2 crew members went to the hospital. The Port Authority said 32 people have already been released.
JACK CABOT, AIR CANADA PASSENGER: A lot of people were really critically injured.
PROKUPECZ: Passenger Jack Cabot shared video with CNN of the scene, including the front of the plane appearing completely decimate.
CABOT: We didn't have any directions because the pilot's cabin had been kind of destroyed. So, somebody said, let's get the emergency exit and get the door in. Let's all jump out. And that's exactly what we did.
PROKUPECZ: Many ended up sliding off the plane's wing to exit safely. One of the flight attendants was found alive outside the plane, still strapped to her seat, according to a law enforcement official.
LIQUORI: It was a very harrowing scene. We were all emotional and it was just very scary.
PROKUPECZ: Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy tried to reassure travelers at a news conference at LaGuardia on Monday.
SEAN DUFFY, TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: It's incredibly sad. It's troubling. And I just want to let America know that we are working our hearts off to make sure that when people travel, whether by rail or car, or by air, that they travel safely.
PROKUPECZ: The collision shut down New York City's second largest airport for more than 14 hours, leading to hundreds of canceled flights. This comes as there's already been significant travel disruptions and delays resulting from the government's partial shutdown.
GOV. KATHY HOCHUL (D-NY): Let's acknowledge the tremendous stress, particularly in recent days that our airline workers are under. And as we come through here, know that this is an ecosystem which is not self-sustaining.
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PROKUPECZ (on camera): And, Phil, we're learning more about some of the victims here. One of the pilots, Antoine Forest, he's been identified as Antoine Forests, 30 years old. We're also learning that the -- that flight attendant that was ejected from the plane, she remained strapped in her seat, those seat belts, keeping her there, she suffered multiple fractures to one of her legs. And her daughter told the Canadian news agency that she's going to need surgery and that it's truly a miracle that she survived. And most aviation safety people would clearly say the same.
We are waiting for this news conference. We're now told that it should start in about 20 minutes or so. So, we're hoping the NTSB will provide, as they often do, some preliminary data about what happened here as they will continue their investigation for quite some time.
MATTINGLY: Yes. We will certainly be watching that and be coming back to you afterwards. Shimon Prokupecz doing critical reporting all day today, LaGuardia Airport in New York, thanks so much.
Let's bring in Pilot and CNN Aviation Correspondent Pete Muntean. Pete, help us break down this surveillance video of the crash. What stood out to you?
PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: It is so telling, Phil, because it shows the incredible force of this impact. We are talking about something that occurred like a head-on collision of two cars at highway speed, about 90 knots.
[18:05:04]
Now, that's the aviation or nautical unit of measurement, according to the granular data from Flightradar24, that translates to about 104 miles an hour. That was the speed that this Air Canada Express flight was traveling, as it just touched down, was continuing its landing rollout.
Also what's very telling here is that this airport fire truck had its lights on as it was crossing the runway there at what's called Taxiway Delta, that's the fourth taxiway down the runway, about halfway down the 7,000-foot long runway there at LaGuardia. 4 and 2, 2 is what it's called. Runway 4 is what the airplane was landing on, one of the busiest single runways in the United States.
Still some very telling data here also for investigators, they will be able to go through this video, frame by frame, and figure out with even more detail how quickly the truck was moving, because we don't have tracking information on that, and how quickly the airplane was moving.
Also some really tough work cut out for investigators now as they try to figure out the communications and the interplay between the air traffic control tower, the ground controller, who's responsible for the movement of everything on the ground, including vehicles, and the truck and the airplane. Some really big questions now about where, what is clear, this communications breakdown occurred.
MATTINGLY: Yes. I want to ask you about that just to step back for people. How does LaGuardia's fire unit operate? What is communication typically like between them and air traffic controllers on a day-to- day basis?
MUNTEAN: Generally, fire engines on an airport, Airport Rescue and Firefighting, the abbreviation is ARF, they typically communicate with air traffic controllers just like airplanes would communicate with air traffic controllers. And so, essentially, you treat what is called a hold short line, the line that's painted on the taxiway, usually two solid yellow bars and then dashed yellow bars behind that is essentially a loaded gun.
And so you always make sure, like you're approaching an intersection at a busy four-way stop sign, to look left and right even if the controller has told you that you're cleared to go across it. You know, I fly airplanes all the time and you always pay very special attention when you're crossing runways.
The interesting thing here is that the airport firehouse is on one side of the runway. Oftentimes, the terminals are on the other side of the runway, and so it was very normalized, investigators may say, for these fire trucks to be crossing the runway day in and day out. And so that may have led to some complacency in their operations, meaning that they just became maybe too comfortable with crossing the runway all the time.
Of course, that is for investigators to get to the bottom of. It's way, way too soon to speculate if that is a contributing factor here, although investigators will really want to know about some of the larger factors at play here. Was there sort of a normalization of deviance is what it's called.
MATTINGLY: Yes. You always make the point. Root causes of accidents can take a year longer, oftentimes involve multiple contributing factors. But one of the questions I've had is, does LaGuardia have problems with air traffic controller staffing? Is one person typically doing multiple jobs there?
MUNTEAN: LaGuardia is considered one of the highest risk, most dynamic environments in the air traffic control system. The FAA gives air traffic control facilities, towers, centers, approach control facilities, a rating of 1 to 12 based on how difficult they are. It also determines the controller's pay scale. This is a considered an 11 out of 12. And so it's a very dynamic environment.
They're not really problems, at least according to the Federal Aviation Administration data from April of last year with air traffic controller staffing, it's about 34 controllers. That's the full complement of controllers needed at LaGuardia Tower, according to the FAA, and about 32 controllers. Positions are staffed there with six trainees waiting in the wings.
The big question now, and this is something that many have alluded to today, were there short staffing conditions in the tower for this shift late at night? Usually, an air traffic control tower sort of sheds some of the peripheral employees working there in the tower and maybe goes to sort of a skeleton crew, and was one controller working two radio frequencies at the same time? Was that one controller in the tower talking to the airplanes in the air, what's called a local controller, and also airplanes and vehicles on the ground? That is the big question now.
Of course, that was asked to transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and FAA administrator Brian Bedford today. They essentially dodged that question. They refuted the notion that there was low staffing at the time of this crash.
MATTINGLY: Invaluable reporting. As always, we will certainly be coming back to you later this hour.
Pete Muntean, thanks so much.
I want to show you another live look at the crash site there at LaGuardia. We will bring you that update from the NTSB in New York as soon as it begins.
Well, also this hour, President Trump just back in Washington after a trip to Tennessee today.
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He made news on his war with Iran. CNN's Kaitlan Collins was traveling with the president. Her exchange with the president and his future plans in Iran, that's next.
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MATTINGLY: In our World Lead, multiple breaking developments in the war on Iran. Israel says it struck one of Iran's main Revolutionary Guard headquarters today, plus several other military buildings in Tehran. That shortly after President Donald Trump postponed his threat to strike Iran's power plants, saying the U.S. and Israel are in talks to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
But Iran denies any such talks, and according to Iran's semi-official foreign (ph) news agency, informed Iranian sources say plans are being prepared for potential actions targeting Tel Aviv and some regional allies of the U.S. and Israel.
CNN's Kaitlan Collins joins us now on the phone. And the reason Kaitlan's on the phone is because she's been with the president all day, is now sprinting back from Joint Base Andrews, where the president landed a short while ago. And while the president broke the news this morning on Truth Social of these talks, everything else that broke today came because of Kaitlan asking the president questions about what's going on here. Kaitlan, what was your takeaway?
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KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Phil, it was really interesting, and we just got off Air Force One with the president after traveling back from Florida to Tennessee and then now back in Washington. And, really, you know, what culminated in today is that we were getting different signals from what the president is saying versus what Iranian officials have been saying, and that is what the status of these talks are. Because you're right, this morning, before the markets opened, the president posted that he was not going to bomb their power plants and their energy infrastructure, like he had threatened, and he said he was giving them five days as these talks are playing out. And he said, these talks are being led by Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. But then, quickly, we heard from Iranian officials who said there are no direct talks happening and that the president was just trying to ease markets with his comments. But we do know, we do have reporting from our colleagues, Phil, that there are some messages that are going back and forth through intermediaries at least.
And so there are real questions about whether these talks are even happening. But more than that, you know, what they would be agreeing on? Because the president told us this morning when we were standing on the tarmac in Palm Beach that there are several points of agreement. I asked him to name a few of them, and he said there's 15 points of agreement. But he said the main one is that Iran has agreed not to have a nuclear weapon. He said that was point one, two and three.
Of course, obviously that would be a huge deal, should Iran do that, and the president said they had agreed to it. But we have yet to hear that from any Iranian officials. And so, obviously, there's still a lot of questions here not only about that, but also what's going to happen to the Strait of Hormuz, for example, which has remained basically closed to most traffic, if not almost all of it.
I asked the president if he envisioned by the end of this, who's in control of the Strait of Hormuz. Is Iran still allowed to be able to disrupt the flow of oil? And the President argued, Phil, that it could be jointly controlled. And when I asked by whom it could be controlled, he said, maybe me, maybe me and the ayatollah, whoever the ayatollah is.
Now, the president made clear his talks have not been with the new supreme leader, the former supreme leader's son. He cast out on the fact that he is the leader, and then would not say exactly who he is talking to, Phil, even though we certainly tried to nail him down on that. He said he was worried that they would be killed should he reveal their name.
So, obviously, there's still a lot of questions about what this looks like going forward, whether or not there is any agreement in place and what the next five days are going to bring to bear if it is some kind of an agreement or if this is just more time, if the president is developing what his next step is going to be here. Phil?
MATTINGLY: Yes. A new window that your exchange on the Strait of Hormuz in particular was fascinating to listen to the kind of joint venture with an ayatollah potentially to be named later.
Great work throughout the course of the day, Kaitlan Collins. Thanks for scrambling up on the phone for us on a very long travel day. And, of course, Kaitlan will have much more tonight on her show, The Source with Kaitlan Collins. Her guests tonight include Democratic Senator Adam Schiff. It's tonight at 9:00 Eastern on CNN.
Let's discuss now with Beth Sanner, former deputy director of National Intelligence. Beth, I'm just going to kind of cut through it here. What is going on right now? BETH SANNER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well. There are a lot of unknowns, right? So let's not be too cute here and say that we actually understand what's going on, but let me give you some facts of what is going on. Nothing on the ground today changed. The president promised not to do something that we haven't done, and the bombings by Israel and the United States, as you showed earlier, have continued. Iran continues to be able to place missiles and drones into Israel and the Gulf and it is controlling the traffic on the strait. In fact, Lloyd's of London reported today that China paid a toll to get a tanker through.
So, there is that, and the United States continues to move forces into the region. There are reports of more forces pulling in and the Iranians today said that they are planning to escalate if we do so, and they said we won't agree to anything that doesn't include reparations and, you know, all sorts of maximalist demands.
So, you know, I think the bottom line here is that there isn't a lot of movement in positions and the assumption by the Trump administration, and maybe it will turn out to be true, I don't know, but is that somehow the Iranian regime is in a different place than it has been. And, in fact, I kind of feel like the Iranian regime thinks that they're winning a little bit here because they do control the strait and there's not much we can do.
MATTINGLY: I think that was my biggest question in terms of when I saw the news, and please correct me if I'm wrong here, the idea that Iranian officials are saying there are not negotiations. The Trump administration is saying, there are negotiations, there are messages being passed. Our reporting has confirmed. There are ways that this can be done that doesn't make those two statements as divergent as they seem on their face from a diplomatic perspective.
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But, you know, in talking to some of my energy sources earlier today, they were saying, what has changed right now? Nothing has changed. Markets changed.
From a diplomatic perspective, but you know, in talking to some of my energy sources earlier today, they were saying what has changed right now? Nothing has changed. Markets changed on a day-to-day basis, but the Strait of Hormuz is still closed and Iran still seems to have a lot of leverage here.
SANNER: Exactly. And, in fact, one of the things that has changed is U.S. war aims. We got into this war believing that there would be somehow a popular uprising, right? And then we got to a point where we weren't talking about that anymore. We were talking about, you know, regime collapse or change. Then we were talking about nuclear and missiles and all of that, and now what are we talking about? We're talking about reopening the Strait of Hormuz, which, by the way, wasn't even closed at the beginning of this conflict. And so Iran has forced us to change our war aims, and that is very different.
MATTINGLY: Is there a world in which the path the president seems to be wanting to go down right now, has stated he wants to go down right now, can be aligned with where Prime Minister Netanyahu and his operations intend to go going forward? They spoke today by phone. I've talked with officials in the region who are saying there's no way you can square that circle between the aims of the two countries if this is where Trump wants to go.
SANNER: I think that, you know, we have three combatants involved in this war, right? We have Iran, the U.S., and Israel. And I think that, as one commentator said, you know, squaring that triangle is going to be really difficult. And what we're seeing is that, you know, Israel really isn't ready to stop now because if we stopped at this moment, Iran would be emboldened because the regime has survived. We have more deeper hardliners in charge, and this group of people would probably be more bent on getting a nuclear weapon and missiles, and it would probably be more difficult for them to, quote, mow the lawn because Iran has now broken this taboo, this norm against closing the strait and they could potentially do that again.
And so I think that that is -- you know, I think that what the Israelis think is that if we ended now, they would be in, you know, as bad, if not worse place than when we started.
MATTINGLY: Yes, there's still a lot of questions outstanding. We'll see where this goes over the course of the next five days.
Best Sanner, as always my friend, thanks so much.
SANNER: Thanks, Phil.
MATTINGLY: Well, President Trump was in Tennessee today for a round table that highlighted the progress he claims he's made by deploying the National Guard and ICE officials to Memphis in a fight against crime. A Tennessee Congressman, who's also with the president, will join me next.
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DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: So, we've achieved a 70 percent reduction in murders from the peak in this place. In total, we've arrested 7,000 criminals, seized more than 1,100 illegal guns, taken more than 1,000 pounds of illicit narcotics and rescued more than 150 missing children, making their parents beyond happy.
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MATTINGLY: In our Politics Lead that was President Trump this afternoon in Memphis, Tennessee, one of the cities he sent National Guard troops to in the name of restoring law and order.
I'm joined now by Tennessee Republican John Rose with the president. He's here with us now. I really appreciate you taking the time, sir. One of the questions I had in watching the event today is you talked to law enforcement officials, they say, look, a surge in resources is always welcome in a local community. It's always going to have an impact. What's the durability of that over time? Do you feel like there's a plan for that with Memphis?
REP. JOHN ROSE (R-TN): I think there is, but I do think there's more to do. I'm running for governor of Tennessee and I think the next governor is going to have to come behind this surge and put in place enduring policies that will deliver safety for Memphians and Shelby County. And so there's more work to be done. But I think the impact of the Memphis Safe Task Force has been remarkable, and I think it has changed minds in Memphis in terms of what can be achieved.
MATTINGLY: I want to play something else. You're obviously also a city member of the House while you have to come back to vote while you're running for governor as well. The president said this this afternoon.
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TRUMP: The Democrats are being blamed by the American people for the catastrophe going on right now at our airports and at other points of transportation and beyond. And we want the public to know we're not going to let them out of this trap that they created for themselves. And I'm suggesting very strongly that the Republicans in going for the Save America Act that you welded into exactly this because voter I.D. is part of Homeland Security.
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MATTINGLY: No doubt, you're supportive of the idea and certainly the underlying legislation on both of those counts, but are you concerned in the idea of Democrats getting blamed or the message here that melding those two together, one of which does not have 60 votes in the Senate, ends up putting the blame on Republicans as it relates to TSA or the shutdown?
ROSE: Well, I don't know what Democrats are going to do, but I do know that both of these issues poll above 70, 80 percent with the American people. So, the American people want to see us make sure that our elections are secure, by making sure that only citizens vote, and that they show an I.D. when they go to vote. And they also want to see the country kept safe.
And I think the three shutdowns in the last six months led by Democrats and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer I think are wearing thin with the American people and they see the cracks in the armor. They see the impact of these shutdowns on the safety and security of the American people. And I think the American people are tired of being used as pawns by the Democrats, being used as leverage, being put in harm's way to protect illegal aliens.
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MATTINGLY: Senator John Thune apparently proposed to the president over the weekend. You could take ICE out and just have a standalone bill, DHS bill that doesn't have ICE, but has TSA, has Coast Guard, has everything else. The president said no. Would that be something you could support?
ROSE: Well, I think we need to do it all. I think the American people need to be kept safe, and I think we need all the tools that are a part of the Department of Homeland Security. Certainly, the president ran on getting our border under control and deporting criminal illegal aliens. And he got elected fairly substantially both in the Electoral College and in the popular vote. So, I think the American people spoke on this very recently and said, we embrace what President Trump is outlining as a means for going forward to get this country back on track.
And I think the Democrats need to take that to heart. They're banking on their radical, far left base supporting them in both of these counts of letting illegals vote and of protecting illegal aliens at the expense of the safety and security of the American people. I think they're wrong.
MATTINGLY: We were talking during the break. You're running for governor. You're a retail guy. You are everywhere in the State of Tennessee, it seems like, when I see you pop up. What are people that you are talking to thinking about gas prices right now? Look, you can support the president and I know in Tennessee they do by a large margin, but gas prices are tough right now given where they were just a month ago.
ROSE: That's right. I filled up for $2.09 a gallon about a month ago. And so I think Americans all across the country, particularly Tennesseans, we're glad to see that after the four years of Bidenflation. So it's a little bit of a bitter pill now to see gas prices spike, but they're still lower than they were during much of the Biden administration.
I think Tennesseeans understand that there might be a little short- term pain here to rid ourselves of the 47-year scourge of the Iranian regime that has terrorized the world and killed thousands of Americans and kept the Middle East destabilized for most of these 47 years, since I was a freshman in high school, for goodness sake.
And so I think the president has shown courage that previous presidents lacked and stepped up to solve this problem.
MATTINGLY: Yes, it's certainly where the administration is on this. I guess one of the questions I've had is how do you define short-term here, right? And this is -- I'm not trying to be cute with this. You talk to people and if they fill up enough and they're dealing with inflation from the past and just affordability issues in general, at some point, $3.85, $3.95, $4 starts to really bite. It's not short- term anymore.
ROSE: Sure. And we all suffered through this during most of the Biden administration. Thankfully, the president has an all of the above energy policy. His policies have moved us towards self-sufficiency. So, today, unlike when I was a kid back in the 1970s, we don't have lines at the gas station. We can get gas. The prices impacted by the run up in prices globally has affected us here, but we don't have a shortage of fuel because we are producing that fuel here domestically.
And so it's a very different situation because of the policies of Donald Trump, and I think that buys him a little bit of time with the American people to deal with this five-decade problem that exists in Iran. We certainly don't want to see them acquire ballistic missiles to deliver weapons to the homeland and we certainly, we and the rest of the world, cannot fathom the terror that they would reign down on us if they had access to nuclear weapons.
So, the president is taking that on. I think the American people will give him the space he needs to take care of this problem.
MATTINGLY: Congressman, I really appreciate you coming in. Thanks so much.
ROSE: Thank you.
MATTINGLY: Well, 19 hours now after last night's deadly crash at New York's LaGuardia Airport, and you can see the Air Canada plane involved still there, still on the scene, as well as the fire truck that it hit.
Now, any moment now, we expect to hear from the NTSB on the early findings of what caused this horrible scene. We're going to bring you that update when it begins.
Stay with us.
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MATTINGLY: The NTSB is giving an update on last night's crash at LaGuardia Airport in New York. Let's listen in.
JENNIFER HOMENDY, CHAIRWOMAN, NTSB: John is our newest board member at the National Transportation Safety Board, and this is his training launch. Also with me today is Doug Brazy, Doug B-R-A-Z-Y. Doug Brazy is our investigator in charge, or IIC, as we refer to the investigator in charge. He is a senior aviation accident investigator and he has been with the NTSB for 34 years.
NTSB, as some of you may know, is an independent federal agency that's charged by Congress with investigating every civil aviation accident in the United States, as well as significant events in other modes of transportation. We are independent. We are not part of the U.S. Department of Transportation. And why that is important to mention is that as part of our investigation, we also have oversight authority in the investigation over the Federal Aviation Administration.
We're here to investigate a collision between a Bombardier CRJ-900 with an aircraft rescue and firefighting vehicle while the aircraft was landing at LaGuardia last night around 11:37 P.M. Eastern daylight time. The airplane was operated by Jazz aviation doing business as Air Canada Express flight 8646. It had 72 passengers on board and four crew on board. Two firefighters were in the firefighting vehicle. I want to just take a moment and on behalf of the entire National Transportation Safety Board, express our deepest condolences to those who lost loved ones in this terrible tragedy. We also know others have suffered injury, and our sympathies are with each of you as well.
I will mention we have five members of our transportation disaster assistance team here on scene, as well as the chief of our Transportation Disaster Assistance Division. They work in concert with the American Red Cross, and thank you to the American Red Cross, to provide resources and information about our investigation and what we are doing to those who lost loved ones or those survivors or families of survivors throughout the investigation, not just here on scene but as we move forward with our investigation through the final board meeting, and sometimes after.
We also have -- expect to have around 25 specialists on site here in on scene. That is in addition to many employees at the NTSB who are supporting this investigation back at headquarters in Washington, D.C. The team in total began to arrive at 3:10 A.M. Some are still en route, which means that we have not had a full day of investigation here today.
And I think that's important because there are a lot of questions and I understand there are a lot of questions, I've heard them, on air traffic control. I've heard questions on the tower, I've heard questions on air traffic control communications. I've heard questions on the vehicle, many questions, and I know that you all have those questions, but I just want to set expectations.
We have LaGuardia that was shut down. We had a ground stop at Newark today, and then we have DHS that shut down, and we have long TSA lines. We have one, our air traffic control specialist, who was in line with TSA for three hours until we called in Houston to beg to see if we can get her through, so we can get her here.
So, it's been a really a really big challenge to get the entire team here and there's still arriving, as I speak, what -- right up until about, I think the latest I saw was midnight, maybe 1:00 A.M. tomorrow morning.
[18:40:09]
So, it is a long travel day for many of those and you know, many are arriving by shore (ph) plane. We have had many that have come here by train and certainly automobile. I drove -- we drove up, a number of us.
So, with that said, you know, I do want to talk a little bit about what we were able to do today. We did a walking inspection of the scene. And we have a site commander doing a really important job, which is a safety walk walkthrough of the scene to make sure that our safety investigators or our investigators are safe while they are on scene.
There is a tremendous amount of debris from Taxiway Delta across Runway 4 into some other areas. It's pretty expansive and we want to make sure, because as you're walking around it, you can get injured. There's also hazardous materials, of course, on the firefighting vehicle itself. So, we want to make sure their safety.
In addition, obviously, the tail of this aircraft is on the ground. And in order to get to the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder, we -- the Port Authority and the emergency responders cut a hole on the roof of the aircraft dropped down and was able to get the CVR and FDR for us, which then one of our investigators drove back to our labs in Washington, D.C., today where they've been able to at least verify that the cockpit voice recorder was not damaged. They'll begin work on the FDR, the flight data recorder, tomorrow. And hopefully we'll have information to share. My hope is that we'll have information to share on that tomorrow in a press conference.
We also began to collect information from FAA and others, certainly on air traffic control staffing in the tower, communications training. We're looking for information today from the Fire and Rescue Department, on their crew and on their vehicles, what the capabilities were of their vehicles and, you know, everything from how much they weighed to what they were carrying. And then we began to form our investigative groups for this investigation.
So ,we have an operations group that we have formed, and that will look at the operator itself as well as procedures and training for the aircraft. We will have a systems investigative group. That group will examine the components of the airplane's hydraulic electrical, navigational, pneumatic, and associated systems, including instruments and flight control system.
We have a structures group that will be documenting the airframe wreckage. And the accident scene, including calculating impact angles, and we have an air traffic control investigative group as well as I mentioned a cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder group.
And, finally, we'll have an airport operations and survival factors combined group. That group will look at the airport rescue and firefighting operations at the airport, and they will look at injuries to occupants as it relates to the dynamics of that -- of this crash.
I mentioned we have the CVR and FDR. We've also collected and have continued to collect surveillance video. We've asked the Federal Aviation Administration who will be providing that an ASD replay of the event, ASD, Airport Surface Detection equipment, a replay of the event. And that is actually looking at the ASD display that was provided to the controller. And so we will be looking at that, where we can see where the aircraft was at certain times and whether the truck was visible on ASD.
We'll also be getting an ASD analysis from FAA's tech center. That will provide us information on whether alerts were generated and other data, including distance of the aircraft that was landing on Runway 4 as the firefighting vehicle was approaching the runway from taxiway Delta.
[18:45:03] With that, im going to take some questions. But again, I just want to be clear. I know you have a lot of questions. You have a lot of detailed questions, and you want that information. I hope to provide more of that information tomorrow. I won't be able to provide a lot of that information tonight.
We have a lot of data right now. A lot of information, including information on tower staffing. But the NTSB deals in facts. We don't speculate. We don't take one person at their word. We verify that information carefully before we provide it. So that is something we still have to do.
With that, we'll take -- can you provide your name and affiliation?
REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE)
HOMENDY: Can I articulate some of the remaining questions that we have, particularly well for this investigation? For the accident itself, and particularly related to air traffic control?
You know, at this stage of the investigation, we don't limit ourselves. So, we have questions on everything. And we look for everything. We collect everything. We -- you know, we may have information that comes our way that we didn't expect. So we don't rule anything out until later.
So, we have a lot of questions on everything. Yes.
PROKUPECZ: On the tower staffing, can you at least tell us how many controllers were in the tower? Was that air traffic controller that we have all now heard? That audio? Was that man also doing ground control and air traffic control at the same time? Can you give us any information about the pilots? How much experience they have?
HOMENDY: Yeah, the question is, can I provide information regarding staffing in the tower? Can I provide information on who the or what, what position the controller held that was communicating, and can I provide information about the pilot backgrounds at this time? The -- not at this time. I will have that information tomorrow.
Do we have information? Yes, but we need to verify that information before we provide it. It's just preliminary information and we aren't able to provide it yet.
PROKUPECZ: I mean, if the FAA and those folks have given it to you, like, what do --
HOMENDY: You still have to do? And the question is, how do we go about verifying it? We have to look at records. There are sign in sheets. We have to do interviews. We have to look at time cards. Theres a lot of information that we -- and then official records from the airline. So that is information we always have to corroborate.
David. And then I'm going to come over here.
REPORTER: Can you tell us where the Air Canada Express plane was in the sky when the controller gave the order to let the thoughts that cross it? Can you say anything about the experience level of controllers? These are experienced controllers.
HOMENDY: The question is where the -- where was the aircraft when the -- when the controller gave clearance for the truck, the firefighting truck to cross? And what was the experience of the controllers? The experience of the controllers, we still have to look at on where the aircraft was. That is actually what -- that's what part of what we hope to get from the FDR, which will get hopefully tomorrow, the flight data recorder, but then also from the ASDI analysis that the tech center will provide us.,
REPORTER: The pilots follow all the instructions that the FAA controller.
HOMENDY: The question is, did the pilots follow all the instructions? We still have to have the cockpit voice recorder verified and analyzed by all the group members before we can provide any information on that.
Yes?
REPORTER: "Wall Street Journal". How long has this been involved in the incident? How long has on shifts required and how long did you remain on shift after --
HOMENDY: The question is on the shift of the controllers. Again, this was a I mean, this was a mid shift. Typically -- and again, this is I'm just going to say this preliminarily. It could be different tomorrow. The shift might run 10:00, 10:30 to 6:00 a.m. but we have to verify that, and we have to verify how long the controllers were on before they took over, and when the shift change was.
REPORTER: What is protocol in a situation like this for both parties, meaning the plane and the air traffic controller? Secondly, can you confirm that there was a crew member that was ejected from the plane and in fact --
[18:50:00]
HOMENDY: The question is -- well, first, let me on the there was a question on whether there was a crew member ejected on impact. We don't answer those questions. I would refer you to the chief medical examiner for New York City. That person can answer those questions. We don't comment on you know, fatalities or injuries at this stage.
And your other question was, what protocols exist between, say, airport operations and with respect to firefighting and aircraft landing? That is part of our investigation. And we'll be looking at that throughout this investigation.
REPORTER: I know you can't say specifically last night, but in general, how many people are in air traffic control on that 10:30 to 6:00 a.m. shift at LaGuardia.
HOMENDY: Well, the question is how many are on shift? Typically, that's still something we have to verify with our air traffic control team.
REPORTER: And then is there an estimate about when runway four might reopen? So I know you have to get out there and look at it. But is it then you would then move what you can off there. So, are we talking 24 hours, 48?
HOMENDY: The question is how long will that runway be closed for us to conduct our investigation? It's going to take some time.
I just want to express how much there is a lot of debris. We need to go through all of that and to figure out what we need to take back to the NTSB, to our labs, what we might want to collect. First and foremost, what we need to take pictures of to document that evidence. That's all evidence.
And we need to document that first. Then we need to collect some of that evidence. Then we get to that. It's going to be days.
REPORTER: Not over a week?
HOMENDY: I'm not sure.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Any more questions.
REPORTER: Hi. Kelly Malone with the Canadian press. How do you work with Canadian investigative authorities? When are they set to arrive? And what kind of information is shared between both?
HOMENDY: Yeah. So, we'll be working with the Transport Safety Board of Canada. And we work, with ICAO under Annex 13. So, the Transport Safety Board of Canada is the state of will come from Canada to represent Canada, and they'll have technical advisors with them, from the operator and I believe from the -- from the manufacturer as well.
And we coordinate on scene just like other investigations, just like we would participate in foreign investigations as well. They are also part of our team for fact finding. Last one.
REPORTER: Can you speak on the (INAUDIBLE) or what will happen in the near future with the air traffic controller that is involved in this incident?
HOMENDY: Can I speak to what would happen -- so the question is what is currently happening with that air traffic controller? Typically, they would be removed from duty. And certainly, it's pretty traumatic for that air traffic controller as well. And well want to interview that air traffic controller as well as others that were in the tower or maybe not even in the tower.
With respect to what that individual is doing right now, I would have to refer that to the Federal Aviation Administration.
Again, that was the last question.
I understand that you have a lot of questions and want detailed information, but I just want to remind you that what would happen if I gave you wrong information, unverified information right now, you would do an entire story on unverified information. And tomorrow I'd have to tell you it's wrong. And then you'd be mad at me again for different reasons.
So, what I'm going to tell you is we are world renowned investigators, but we deal in facts. And if we have, if we are not able to verify those yet and we haven't been able to, we can't provide those. We have a lot of information, but we need to be able to verify that information and provide it to you. I will -- we will do our best to provide you as much information as possible tomorrow. Thank you.
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN HOST: You've been listening to Jennifer Homendy, the NTSB chair. The first and initial update after that tragic plane crash into a fire truck earlier this morning, last night, I guess, in the LaGuardia airport.
What is very clear, they have a lot of information. It is still very early stages.
I want to bring in experts and reporters to explain what exactly they took away from that. CNN's Pete Muntean, of course, as well as former NTSB managing director Peter Goelz.
Peter, I want to start with you. The NTSB chair said both the cockpit and data flight recorders were recovered. What information are they going to learn from those two vital pieces? And when will they learn?
PETER GOELZ, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Well, in almost every investigation, the data recorder and the voice recorder, excuse me, are critical. They give you the functionality of the plane. It will tell you exactly when it touched down. Did the pilots attempt to do a go around? Did the speed brake work effectively? And it will discuss the comments between the pilots on what weather they were following procedures, what they saw and how they reacted, that they've been recovered. You know, the first day that they've already started to determine that the voice recorder is in good working condition, is very positive, and we'll get information tomorrow.
I mean, this was a pretty typical opening press conference. They're not going to drop any information. As Chairman Homendy said, that isn't verified.
MATTINGLY: Yeah. And, Pete, to that point make it very clear we have a lot of information. Until it's verified, we're not going to be talking about it. What are the biggest questions you still have after listening to that?
MUNTEAN: Well, what will you want to hear is more from the cockpit voice recorder, and it seems like we will get some data on that as soon as tomorrow, according to NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy.
Were the pilots of this Air Canada Express flight able to hear all of the communications transmitted by the air traffic control tower? We know from the Reagan National Airport crash of just over a year ago that at times, transmissions were what's called stepped on, meaning two pilots were transmitting on the radio frequency at the same time, causing garbled communication. It sounds like a big squawk in the radio transmission tape that you can hear, which makes it very, very difficult for pilots and controllers to decipher everything that's going on at the same time.
Remember, air traffic control uses radio technology that's essentially based on 1940, 1930, line of sight technology. It's not perfect. And so, if the controllers in the tower were able to relay something to the truck, if they're transmitting to the truck and the truck didn't hear, or if they were transmitting to the plane and the plane didn't hear, that will be something they will want to key in on.
It's a very, very hard process for them to put this together. I've been in the NTSB lab in L'Enfant Plaza in D.C. It's a pretty skeleton crew, an agency of only about 400 people in total.
And the thing that really stood out to me in this press conference is what NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy underscored how difficult it has been for their small team to get to the scene of this investigation, not only because of all of the travel challenges that are playing right now across the United States, but also because of the significant spread out of the debris, for lack of a better term there on the scene on runway four at LaGuardia.
She said that the debris field is quite, quite large, not only on the runway, but also off to the side of the runway and also on what's called taxiway delta, the fourth taxiway up on the runway, about halfway down the runway. And so, this is making it really difficult, she says, and dangerous for her crews to even be there. And they're also dealing with hazardous material on board that firefighting truck.
So, a really complex scene, and were not going to have a lot of answers anytime soon.
MATTINGLY: I want to quickly bring back in Shimon Prokupecz.
Shimon, we heard you ask the question. The NTSB update, you asked about the experience of crew members involved. What are you learning right now?
PROKUPECZ: Yeah, I mean, at this point, they have that data, right? It's not that complicated for them to get it. The FAA has certainly provided them with some of the data.
You know, sometimes we hear about the experience of the pilots. These are two very young men. One of them was just identified. He's 30 years old.
So, you know, was just trying to get some color, trying to get some information about the background of the individuals involved. And so, while they have that information, they're still trying to verify everything. That's what the chairperson here was telling us.
I think also what's complicating some of this is getting their crews, their crews in here. I mean, she talked about the frustration that they're feeling with the TSA and some of those delays and getting folks out on the ground. I was out on the seventh floor of the garage here. I barely saw any of the investigators or any of the NTSB folks out on the runway here today.
So, look, they're still trying to gather everything together. And so well see. Hopefully tomorrow they'll have more information for people who are very concerned about what happened here.
MATTINGLY: Yeah. Pete, 10 seconds. Final thoughts?
MUNTEAN: The big question now is the staffing levels in the air traffic control tower. The NTSB says they're looking at time cards and sign in sheets. We will see as that plays out.
Big questions there, a lot of rumors. Not many answers yet.
MATTINGLY: Yeah, a lot more answers needed and to come for sure. Thanks to you all. Great work throughout the course of the day.
We have much more on the deadly collision at Laguardia coming up. "ERIN BURNETT, OUTFRONT" starts now.
