LaGuardia plane crash: Runway reopens after mangled aircraft, truck removed

As the investigation continues into the deadly runway crash at LaGuardia Airport, condolences are pouring in for the pilots who lost their lives.

They are now identified as 30-year-old Capt. Antoine Forest and First Officer Mackenzie Gunther -- both from Canada.

Chantee Lans has the latest on the victims involved in the LaGuardia crash.

Forest's brother wrote, "You've again left in a whirlwind too soon to say goodbye. I love you, brother you can leave with your head held high."

Meanwhile, Gunther's alma mater Seneca Polytechnic College in Canada is offering counseling services, saying he graduated with honors from their aviation program in 2023.

The school says he will be deeply missed and "to honor the memory of Mr. Gunther, flags at Seneca's campuses will be lowered to half-mast."

Rebecca Liquori, from Baldwin, was on the flight and said she is forever grateful to the young pilots.

"They hit the brakes to slow the impact," she said. "I'm forever indebted to the pilots."

Meanwhile back in Queens at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, Port Authority Police Sgt. Michael Orsillo is the second and final PAPD worker scheduled to be released from the hospital after their fire truck was slammed by the plane.

PAPD Officer Adrian Baez was released from the hospital on Monday night.

As the National Transportation Safety Board investigates the crash, NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy said there were two people in the air traffic control tower cab at the time of collision: the local controller and the controller in charge.

Two controllers is "the standard operating procedure for LaGuardia for the midnight shift," Homendy said at a news conference on Tuesday.

She said the NTSB has been concerned about fatigue from the midnight shift in past investigations, but stressed that there is no evidence of fatigue so far in this case.

LaGuardia has a runway safety system allowing air traffic controllers to track surface movement of planes and vehicles, but that system "did not alert," Homendy said.

One reason -- none of the vehicles rushing to the tarmac had tracking systems installed, including the Port Authority fire truck struck by the landing Air Canada flight

The analysis found that the system "did not generate an alert due to the close proximity of vehicles merging and unmerging near the runway, resulting in the inability to create a track of high confidence," Homendy said.

As investigators work to determine what led to the deadly runway collision at LaGuardia Airport, there is growing focus on how this tragedy could have been even worse.

All of the passengers made it out of the damaged plane. Now, some are sharing the terrifying moments before the crash and the chaos that followed.

Rebecca Liquori from Baldwin in Nassau County spoke to Eyewitness News Mornings @ 10 about her experience.

A survivor of the crash at LaGuardia Airport speaks out about the accident.

Antoine Forest has been identified by his family as one of the two pilots killed when a regional Air Canada jet collided with a Port Authority airport vehicle at LaGuardia Airport in New York City.

Antoine Forest has been identified as one of the two pilots killed when a regional Air Canada jet collided with a Port Authority airport vehicle.