Long security lines at airports caused significant delays not only for travelers but also for federal investigators responding to the deadly runway accident at LaGuardia Airport, slowing the early stages of the probe until intervention from transportation officials.

The incident occurred Sunday night when an Air Canada aircraft struck a Port Authority fire truck that was crossing the runway shortly after the plane landed. The fire truck had been dispatched in response to a report from a United flight about a possible odor inside the cabin. The collision killed both pilots aboard the Air Canada plane and left dozens injured, requiring hospitalization. In the aftermath, LaGuardia Airport was shut down and is expected to remain closed through at least Tuesday afternoon.

At a press briefing Monday, National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy outlined the initial steps taken in the investigation and acknowledged the challenges her team faced in getting to the scene.

According to Homendy, investigators started arriving at approximately 3:10 a.m., though several members of the team were still traveling at the time of her remarks, meaning a full day of investigative work had not yet taken place. She noted that many questions remain unanswered and said she wanted to “set expectations,” particularly given the ongoing Department of Homeland Security shutdown.

“We have DHS that is shut down, and we have long TSA lines,” she said. “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 big challenge to get the entire team here, and they’re still arriving as we speak.”

Later Monday, CNN aviation correspondent Pete Muntean discussed the situation on AC360, telling Anderson Cooper that the crash reflects broader strain within the aviation system.

Muntean explained that while issues surrounding TSA funding and staffing were not directly responsible for the crash itself, they are contributing to wider disruptions across the aviation sector, including passengers missing flights and delays affecting investigative work.

“They can’t even get their people here,” said Cooper.

Muntean also reacted to Homendy’s account of the delays, highlighting that officials had to “beg” to get a crucial investigator, an air traffic control specialist, through security after she had already been waiting for hours.

He further referenced new reports indicating that pilots had previously raised concerns about congestion at LaGuardia, warning that the airport’s heavy traffic levels could pose serious risks. Some of those warnings compared conditions at LaGuardia to those preceding a deadly midair collision near Reagan National Airport in January 2025 involving an American Airlines flight and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter, which resulted in no survivors.

“There’s some really, really key telltales here,” Muntean concluded. “And I have to tell you, I’ve been covering near collisions for years here at CNN. And it was very interesting that we were reporting on collisions that did not happen. Now we’re reporting on collisions that are happening. It’s a very bad dream.”

{Matzav.com}