Start Here LaGuardia Air Traffic Controller: “I Messed Up.”
17 snips
Mar 24, 2026 Karen Travers, ABC White House correspondent covering Trump's diplomacy; Devin Dwyer, ABC Washington reporter tracking the Supreme Court mail-vote case; Gio Benitez, ABC transportation correspondent who traced the LaGuardia runway collision timeline. They dig into the late-night crash and air traffic control audio. They unpack Trump’s pulled Iran ultimatum and its market ripples. They explore looming changes to mail-in ballot rules and who may be affected.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
LaGuardia Crash Killed Two Pilots
- An Air Canada jet collided with a Port Authority fire truck while landing at LaGuardia around 11:40 p.m. in rainy, misty conditions.
- The plane's nose was sheared off, two pilots died, 41 passengers went to hospitals, and the fire truck crew survived with broken bones.
Miraculous Flight Attendant Ejection Survival
- A flight attendant was ejected from the aircraft still strapped into her seat and survived the crash.
- Gio Benitez reported the attendant's daughter said she will live, calling it a miraculous survival amid the tragedy.
Perfect Storm Revealed In Air Traffic Exchange
- The crash resulted from a cascade of factors: poor weather, a separate emergency, late-night operations, and air-traffic control decisions.
- Gio Benitez noted the controller said "I messed up," highlighting human error amid a perfect storm of conditions.