Stephania Pecora
The so-called ‘black box’ containing critical flight data has been recovered from the wreckage of an Air Canada flight as federal authorities work to determine what may have caused it to crash into a firetruck at New York’s LaGuardia International Airport.
Members of the National Transportation Safety Board worked with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, as well as first responders, to cut a hole in the plane, which allowed them to drop down into the wreckage and retrieve the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder.
The devices have since been sent to labs in Washington DC, NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy said at a news conference on Monday, noting that investigators have ‘been able to at least verify that the cockpit voice recorder was not damaged.’
Twenty-five specialists will now be on site to investigate the fatal crash, which took the lives of Antoine Forest, 30, of Coteau-du-Lac in Quebec, and his first officer MacKenzie Gunther.
More than 40 others were injured in the collision at around 11.45pm on Sunday, including New York City-area firefighters Sergeant Michael Orsillo and Officer Adrian Baez.
They are expected to survive, along with flight attendant Solange Tremblay, who was hurled 330 feet from the aircraft.
As the investigation into the collision now continues, air traffic control audio revealed the truck had been cleared to cross the runway for an unrelated issue before controllers urgently ordered it to ‘stop, stop, stop’ moments before impact.
Speaking to reporters in Florida on Monday morning in response to the collision, President Trump said: ‘They made a mistake. It’s a dangerous business. That’s terrible.’
LaGuardia was shutdown until the early afternoon due to the crash, forcing thousands of passenger to scramble while airports across the country are facing severe delays due to the Department of Homeland Security shutdown.
Follow here for the latest updates to the crash.
Source: Dailymail.co.uk | Read the Full Story…
