Dramatic video shows close-up wreckage of Air Canada jet after LaGuardia runway crash

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: A newly released video is offering a closer look at the wreckage of Sunday night’s deadly runway collision at LaGuardia Airport, and it’s not pretty.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) dropped the footage Thursday, the same day the battered runway finally reopened after being shut since Sunday night. The video offers the clearest look yet at the scope of the damage left behind.

The two pilots, Capt. Antoine Forest and First Officer Mackenzie Gunther, were killed in the crash. Their bodies were returned to Canada on Thursday in a somber transfer.

Dozens of others were injured, with several still hospitalized.

Close-up shots in the new video show the front of the jet mangled beyond recognition, its fuselage tilted upward with the nose jutting awkwardly into the air. Investigators can be seen walking around the crippled aircraft, inspecting what remains.

From above, the destruction looks even worse as debris is scattered across the runway. The emergency vehicle struck by the plane is also visible, flipped onto its side nearby.

Investigation continues into what caused LaGuardia runway crash

Audio from air traffic control captures the chaos in the seconds leading up to the crash, with a controller urgently warning the emergency vehicle to “stop, stop, stop” just moments after it had been cleared to cross the runway.

NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said investigators are already digging into the details, starting with who was on duty in the control tower and when.

"The initial questions are usually focused on, what was going on in the tower at the time? Who came off duty? When people came off duty," she said. "We start to build a timeline, and then dig into each of those questions to find out more."

The crash occurred when an Air Canada jet slammed into a Port Authority Police Department Aircraft Rescue firetruck, shearing off the nose of the plane.

Investigators are examining whether the emergency vehicle was cleared onto the runway without controllers realizing the plane was landing. The fire truck did not have a transponder, which could have allowed air traffic controllers to track its position more accurately. While a Port Authority source said such equipment was never required because vehicles coordinate movements directly with the tower, Homendy suggested that might not be enough.

“The controllers should have all the tools they need to do their job,” she said. “Whether it’s aircraft or vehicles moving in the taxiways, they should have it all.”

Pilots’ actions credited with preventing further deaths in crash

Forest and Gunther were the only fatalities in what could have been a far worse disaster. Survivors credited the pair with preventing additional deaths.

Multiple passengers described the aircraft braking “extremely hard” as it touched down shortly before the 11:35 pm collision. Others said the pilots appeared to engage reverse thrust in a last-ditch effort to slow the plane.

Those split-second decisions may have made the difference.

Meanwhile, Runway 4 was finally reopened on Thursday as investigators continued questioning the Port Authority police personnel in the truck, along with the two air traffic controllers on duty at the time.