LaGuardia ATC tower cleared firetruck to cross runway seconds before Air Canada flight landed: NTSB

National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) authorities on Tuesday shared details of the final three minutes of the Air Canada flight that crashed into a firetruck on Sunday night at LaGuardia Airport in New York City, captured by the plane’s cockpit voice recorder. The crash resulted in the deaths of both the pilot and co-pilot, as well as dozens of injuries. 

NTSB senior aviation investigator Doug Brazy detailed the timeline of events, from 3 minutes and 7 seconds prior to the end of the recording up to the end of it. "The airplane was equipped with an Acron Aviation model SRVIVR25 cockpit voice recorder and an Acron Aviation model FA2100 flight data recorder. The cockpit voice recorder contained more than 25 hours of good-quality audio across four separate channels. The flight data recorder contained approximately 80 hours of data and recorded more than 400 parameters."

He went on to detail the final minutes of the crash: "3 minutes and 7 seconds prior to the end of the recording, the approach controller instructed the airplane to contact LaGuardia tower. At 2 minutes and 45 seconds, the flight crew lowered the landing gear. At 2 minutes and 22 seconds, the flight crew checked in with the LaGuardia tower. At 2 minutes and 17 seconds, the LaGuardia tower cleared the airplane to land on runway four and advised that they were number two for landing."

"At time 1 minute 52 seconds, the flight crew set the flaps to 30 degrees. At 1 minute and 33 seconds, the flight crew set the flaps to 45 degrees. At 1 minute and 26 seconds, an electronic 1000 callout occurred from the enhanced ground proximity warning system, indicating that the airplane was 1000 feet above the ground. At 1 minute and 12 seconds, the flight crew confirmed that the landing checklist was complete. At 1 minute and 3 seconds, an airport vehicle made a radio transmission to the tower, but that transmission was stepped on by another radio transmission, and the source of that, of who made that transmission, has yet to be identified.

"At 54 seconds, the flight crew acknowledged that the airplane was 500 feet above the ground and on a stable approach. At 40 seconds, the LaGuardia tower asked which vehicle needed to cross a runway. At 28 seconds, Truck One made a radio transmission to the tower. At 26 seconds, the tower acknowledged that radio transmission. At 25 seconds, Truck One requested to cross runway four at taxiway delta. At 20 seconds, the tower cleared Truck One and company to cross runway four at taxiway delta. 

"At 19 seconds, an electronic 100 foot enhanced ground proximity warning system call out occurred. At 17 seconds, Truck One read back the runway crossing clearance. At 14 seconds, an electronic 50 callout. At 12 seconds, an electronic 30 callout. And at that same time, the tower instructed a Frontier Airlines flight to hold position. At 11 seconds, an electronic 20 callout occurred. And at 10 seconds, an electronic 10 callout occurred. At 9 seconds, the tower instructed Truck One to stop. At 8 seconds, there was a sound consistent with the airplane’s landing gear touching down on the runway. At 6 seconds, there was a pilot transfer of controls from one pilot to the other. And at 4 seconds, the tower again instructed One to stop. At zero seconds, the recording ended."

Killed in the crash were pilot Antoine Forest and co-pilot Mackenzie Gunther. Authorities revealed on Tuesday that the firetruck did not have a transponder that would have allowed for an alarm from the runway warning system.