Two commercial planes collided on the runway of New York's LaGuardia Airport on Friday evening. The airport had been affected throughout the day by a lack of air traffic controllers due to the shutdown of the American federal government, according to EFE.
Two United Airlines planes were involved in the incident. Fb United Airlines PHOTO
While running towards the arrivals gate, a plane of the American company United Airlines (flight 580), which had landed from Chicago, hit the tail of another plane of United Airlines (flight 434), which was parked on the runway waiting to take off to Houston, Texas, notes the international agency, quoted by Agerpres
The accident was followed by the disembarkation of all passengers and the eventual cancellation of the flight to Texas, and occurred towards the end of a chaotic day at New York airports due to the wind and the aforementioned lack of air traffic controllers.
LaGuardia Airport, focused on domestic traffic, as well as John F. Kennedy, one of New York's two international airports, were forced to temporarily suspend aircraft takeoffs Friday due to a lack of air traffic controllers.
Concerns about traffic controllers
In the US, there is growing concern that these air traffic controllers, who are among the 730,000 federal employees who perform essential duties but will not receive their salaries until the government shutdown is resolved, could begin to miss their posts in greater numbers due to the excessive workload they face.
During the 2018-2019 government shutdown, the longest in U.S. history, it was controller absences — which paralyzed some of the country's air traffic — that forced Republicans and Democrats to reach a deal in Congress to end the shutdown.
We recall that in February, the Federal Aviation Administration opened an investigation after two planes collided on a runway at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
The lack of synchronization between the ground coordinator and the pilot was also one of the reasons why two planes collided in Suceava, two years ago.
