Controller May Have Had to Leave Post Before Crash

As the investigation into last month's fatal runway crash at LaGuardia continues, the New York Times reports another possible wrinkle: A controller may have had to briefly leave his station to use an emergency land line. Minutes before an Air Canada jet crashed into a firetruck, pilots of a United jet had reported a strange odor aboard their plane and requested emergency assistance. At that point, it's possible that a controller would have needed to leave his desk to use what's known as a "crash phone" on a supervisor's desk to summon emergency help.

"If a controller had to step away from his console—even for less than a minute—it could have complicated an already chaotic evening," the story notes. Nothing is certain, and the line of inquiry is part of a broader look at staffing issues in the control tower that night. Investigators are also focused on where the lead fire truck stopped near the runway, how firefighters communicated with each other and with the tower, and whether weather and light conditions affected visibility. At one point in subsequent audio chatter, a controller said, "I messed up."