FAA Moves to Fire Two LaGuardia Controllers Who Left Early Night of Fatal March Crash

The FAA is moving to fire two air traffic controllers who left LaGuardia Airport's tower roughly an hour before their shifts ended on March 22, the night an Air Canada Express plane collided with a fire truck on the runway, according to people familiar with the matter cited by the Wall Street Journal and confirmed by Reuters.

The crash killed both pilots of the Air Canada Express flight. Two Port Authority firefighters on the truck and 39 of the 76 people aboard the plane were taken to hospitals, according to CBS News. The Daily Mail reported six people were seriously injured on the ground, and the NTSB has said the runway warning system did not sound before impact.

At the time of the collision, two controllers remained in the tower. Reuters reported the two who left early would have served as additional support staffing. NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said in March that having just two controllers in the tower on a midnight shift is common practice nationally, not a staffing anomaly specific to that night.

LaGuardia was handling more than double its typical traffic volume that night because of thunderstorms, according to the Independent and the Daily Mail, both citing the Wall Street Journal's reporting. That heavier load fell on the two controllers who stayed, without the backup the two early departures would have provided.

What an 'early shove' is

Industry sources describe leaving before a shift's official end, known as an 'early shove,' as a long-standing informal practice, often permitted by supervisors during slower stretches, with the employee still paid for the full shift. The South China Morning Post reported it is typically authorized by a supervisor in advance.

The FAA does not see it that way. The agency classifies the practice as timecard fraud when it is not logged, and it has fired more than 10 controllers this year on similar grounds, according to the Wall Street Journal's reporting cited by the Independent and the Daily Mail.

Accounts of how routine this practice is vary even among controllers themselves. Reuters spoke to three controllers: one said the FAA has been cracking down nationwide on employees leaving during breaks and not returning. Another described 'early shoves' as an established industry term for leaving after finishing assigned duties. A third said letting employees leave shortly before scheduled end times has been common at many facilities for years.

The government's position

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy defended the firings in a statement carried by CBS News, Reuters, and the Daily Mail. 'The vast majority of air traffic controllers are great patriots, they show up for work, complete their full shift, and come back and do it all again,' Duffy said. 'But when a small percentage of individuals take advantage of the American taxpayer, unfairly add additional work to their fellow controllers, and impact the airspace, we have no choice but to act. We will not tolerate fraud.'

The FAA said in a statement that it 'is committed to holding employees accountable, and we will not compromise the safety or efficiency of the National Airspace System.' The agency also said it has hired more than 2,000 controllers this year, about 94% of its 2026 hiring goal, to address a nationwide staffing shortage that has contributed to travel delays, according to the Independent.

The National Air Traffic Controllers Association, the union representing controllers, said it is 'actively discussing these allegations with FAA leadership' and believes those discussions are 'the appropriate forum for addressing the matter.' The union added, in comments carried by 1073theeagle, that it wanted to highlight 'the extraordinary dedication of the thousands of air-traffic controllers who report to work every day, often under extremely challenging staffing conditions.'

What's still unresolved

The NTSB has not concluded what role, if any, the staffing gap played in the crash itself. A spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal, as reported by the Daily Mail, that the agency is still investigating and that determining a final cause could take more than a year, since aviation accidents typically stem from a 'series of failures' rather than one.

Todd Yeary, a former air traffic controller, told CBS News New York that key questions remain unanswered: whether traffic was actually low enough at the time to justify the early departure, whether the two controllers were on approved leave, or whether it was comp time. 'If it is just arbitrary leaving for the sake of leaving because it's an endorsed practice, we know that's a whole problem,' Yeary said. 'But there are some other factors there.'

If supervisors routinely authorized 'early shoves' as described by multiple controllers to Reuters, the agency's fraud framing and the industry's 'informal perk' framing describe the same conduct very differently, and neither has been tested yet in whatever termination or grievance process follows. The NTSB's staffing review and any appeal the two controllers file through their union will determine whether this becomes a settled personnel matter or a contested one.