NTSB: Long TSA Lines Delayed LaGuardia Crash Investigators

Federal investigators said Monday night that the federal government shutdown has already complicated their probe of a fatal collision at New York's LaGuardia Airport between an Air Canada jet and a fire truck. National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy said long security lines at other airports held up the arrival of several of the more than two dozen specialists assigned to the case, the New York Times reports. Some of the investigators were not expected to reach New York until early Tuesday, Homendy said, adding that NTSB officials had to "beg" the Transportation Security Administration to move one investigator ahead after a three-hour wait in Houston. Homendy said she drove from Washington to LaGuardia.

The investigation will cover the plane's operations, examinations of its components, and the flight control system, Homendy said. Investigators also are collecting surveillance video, per NBC News. She said her agency has asked the Federal Aviation Administration for an Airport Surface Detection Equipment replay of the accident. "We will be looking at that—where we can see where the aircraft was at certain times and whether the truck was visible on ASDE," she said. Investigators are checking preliminary information about air traffic controller staffing. "There are sign-in sheets. We have to do interviews," she said. "We have to look at time cards." LaGuardia reopened to flights on Monday afternoon.