The collision which resulted in the death of two Canadian pilots on Sunday at LaGuardia Airport in New York was one detail away from causing many more victims, according to two experts.
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The cabin spared by luck
The images of the plane after the accident bear witness to this: the cockpit was torn off, but the cabin was relatively spared by the impact. The experts consulted by The Press agree that it is surely a matter of luck.
“The design of aircraft is not made to avoid obstacles or for controlled deformation,” explains Pierre Gauthier, flight control teacher at the Charlesbourg Transport Training Center (CFTC). In other words, planes are not made to withstand a certain degree of impact like cars or trucks are.
The worst avoided
The death of the two pilots of the plane is tragic, underlines Pierre Gauthier. However, he believes that “it could have been so much more serious”.
Among other things, because the collision did not cause a fire. “Luckily, because all the elements of the plane are connected to the cockpit,” he explains. The flames may have spread to the wings, where the fuselage and fuel are located. “We would have had many more deaths on our conscience,” he adds.
A saving brake
Several passengers on the plane reported feeling the aircraft brake abruptly shortly before the collision. But usually, pilots wait to brake until the plane has reached a fairly slow speed, or 80 nautical miles per hour, about 148 km/h, says Robert Kokonis, an aviation consultant and founder of the firm AirTrav.
“If, in fact, the drivers saw the truck out of the corner of their eye, they probably decided to apply the brakes as a last resort,” he emphasizes. The low speed of the plane then undoubtedly prevented greater impacts on the entire plane, according to Mr. Kokonis.
Collision angle
The fire truck came into contact with the plane at about a 90-degree angle, rather than face-to-face, according to airport surveillance videos. “It perhaps gave the cabin a chance not to be too damaged,” underlines Pierre Gauthier.
Incursions, a “big problem”
Incursions, that is to say the presence of another vehicle on a landing strip, have been “a big problem for several years”, underlines Pierre Gauthier.
And Canada is not spared. In 2019, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada issued a recommendation to the Department of Transport for the Greater Toronto Airports Authority to mitigate the risk of incursions between its parallel runways.
But not all incursions end in tragedy. During landings, crews are always prepared for one pilot to keep an eye on the outside of the cockpit while the other monitors the instruments, according to Pierre Gauthier.
