The federal government's partial shutdown reached a new consequence Monday when a key investigator dispatched to the fatal runway crash at New York's LaGuardia Airport was trapped for three hours in a security line at Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport — forcing the National Transportation Safety Board to intervene just to get its own specialist onto a flight.
NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy disclosed the delay during a Monday news conference at LaGuardia, telling reporters that the agency's air traffic control specialist — a critical member of the Go Team sent to investigate the crash — had been waiting in a TSA line in Houston for three hours. "We called — in Houston — to beg, to see if we can get her through, so we can get her here," Homendy said.
The collision happened at approximately 11:37 p.m. Sunday. The aircraft was operated by Jazz Aviation doing business as Air Canada Express. There were 72 passengers and four crew members on board, along with two firefighters in the rescue vehicle. The crash killed two pilots and left dozens injured.
Homendy said she and other senior NTSB staff drove from Washington, D.C. to New York rather than attempt to fly, while others arrived by train. The full investigation team was not expected to be on site until around 1 a.m. Tuesday.
Houston's Bush Intercontinental is among the hardest hit airports in the country, with wait times stretching to four hours or more on Monday. At Bush, 42.4% of TSA officers called out, while Houston's Hobby Airport saw a 47.4% callout rate.
Nationwide, TSA absenteeism hit 11.5% on March 21 — the highest recorded during the shutdown — as officers have been working without pay since the Department of Homeland Security shutdown began February 14.
The NTSB expects 25 specialists on site at LaGuardia as part of the probe, along with five members of its Transportation Disaster Assistance Team working alongside the American Red Cross to support victims' families. Both black boxes — the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder — were retrieved by cutting a hole in the roof of the aircraft and transported to NTSB labs in Washington. The cockpit voice recorder has been confirmed undamaged.
LaGuardia's Runway 4 will remain closed until at least 7 a.m. Friday. The FAA and Canada's Transportation Safety Board are also participating in the investigation.
NTSB investigators walk the scene of the Mar. 22 collision between an Air Canada Express plane and a firefighting vehicle on Runway 4 at LaGuardia Airport. pic.twitter.com/lLuC5YCAzv
— NTSB Newsroom (@NTSB_Newsroom) March 23, 2026
NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy disclosed the delay during a Monday news conference
