The Federal Aviation Administration is looking to fire two controllers who are accused of leaving their shifts about an hour before they were scheduled to end on the night when an Air Canada regional jet crashed into a fire truck at LaGuardia Airport earlier this year.
Sources told The Wall Street Journal, which broke the story, that because the two controllers allegedly left early, only two others remained in the tower with no backup to help handle a high workload.
The newspaper said that the airport was handling double the normal amount of traffic at the time. Initially, investigators had questioned if there were additional controllers in the tower at the time of the crash, The New York Times reported.
The crash killed two pilots, and six other people were hurt, the National Transportation Board said.
Leaving early without marking it on their time cards is called “shoves.”
Sean Duffy, the secretary of transportation, released a statement to the Times about the alleged incident.
“We will not tolerate fraud, and we are taking appropriate action to hold folks accountable and prevent unlawful practices from disrupting the traveling public,” adding that the practices “take advantage of the American taxpayer, unfairly add additional work to their fellow controllers and impact the airspace.
The National Air Traffic Controllers Association did not answer specific questions from the Times, but said in an email, “NATCA is actively discussing these allegations with F.A.A. leadership. We believe those discussions are the appropriate forum for addressing the matter.”
Check back for more on this developing story.
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