Duffy warns passengers to wear their SEATBELTS after LaGuardia crash

US Transport Secretary Sean Duffy said the Air Canada crash site at LaGuardia was a ‘reminder’ to those traveling by air or car to ‘wear a seatbelt.’

‘What is at the crash site, it was just a reminder that when you’re traveling by air, you should wear your seatbelt,’ he said.

‘If you see the videos of the air crash, wear your seatbelt when you’re on the airplane. Also in a car, wear a seatbelt. As you see from last night, they do save lives,’ he continued.

Flight attendant Solange Tremblay was strapped into a jump seat and violently thrown 330 feet clear of the aircraft when it collided with the truck, but somehow survived.

NTSB investigators have been able to retrieve the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder, Jennifer Homendy told reporters.

In order to retrieve the devices, she said the NTSB, Port Authority and emergency responders had to cut a hole in the roof of the aircraft and drop down to secure them.

They were then taken back to labs in Washington DC, and investigators have ‘been able to at least verify that the cockpit voice recorder was not damaged,’ Homendy said.

The Air Canada plane that crashed into a fire truck and killed two pilots is still sitting on the runway at LaGuardia Airport on Tuesday morning.

Nearly 50 percent of staff at Houston’s Hobby Airport called off Monday, but chaos has since calmed at the Southwest hub with security wait times currently estimated at being 10 minutes or less.

Staffing shortages are plaguing airports across the US after hundreds of thousands of Homeland Security workers – including those from the TSA – have continued to work without pay since Congress failed to renew DHS funding last month.

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport has advised travelers to allow ‘at least four hours or more’ for security screenings for both domestic and international flights but were unable to offer an exact TSA wait time on Tuesday morning.

LaGuardia Airport was a ticking timebomb before Sunday night’s deadly runway crash that killed two, multiple pilots warned in the months leading up to the tragedy.

Last summer, one pilot issued a chilling warning about LaGuardia to NASA’s Aviation Safety Reporting System, urging aviation authorities to ‘please do something’ before a tragedy occurs.

‘The pace of operations is building in LGA (LaGuardia). The controllers are pushing the line,’ the pilot said in the warning, which was first reported by a CNN review of government records.

Markwayne Mullin, Donald Trump’s pick to replace ousted Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, has been confirmed by the United States Senate.

Mullin now heads to a department that is the topic of much blame around the country as Americans face grueling waits due to TSA agents going without pay. ICE agents were deployed to several airports earlier on Monday to help curb the chaos.

Crash survivor Rebecca Liquori described the terrifying moment the Air Canada plane collided with a fire truck while landing at LaGuardia Airport on Sunday.

‘The crash happened so quickly that I thought I was gone. When I opened my eyes and I saw I’m still alive and I can still escape, I thought I have to get out. I have to make it to my boys,’ she told WABC.

‘Honestly, with what the pilots did there, I believed saved many lives on that flight and my heart is just broken for them.

‘Absolutely. They saved us and they weren’t able to save themselves.’

The Port Authority Police Benevolent Association praised the actions of the first responders who evacuated passengers on the Air Canada plane after Sunday’s crash.

The police officers of the Port Authority Aircraft Rescue Fire Fighter (ARFF) Unit had been responding to a separate emergency when they were struck by the plane.

‘The tragic crash occurred in view of the other ARFF Units. The members of those units immediately went into rescue operations evacuating the passengers, securing their safety while not knowing if their fellow officers in Truck 1 were dead or alive. True professionalism,’ the association said.

America’s most dangerous airports have been exposed by federal officials, with dozens of high-risk runway ‘hot spots’ flagged across the country.

Data from the Federal Aviation Administration shows 291 locations within US airports where the risk of runway incursions, near-collisions and taxiing errors are significantly elevated.

These hot spots are marked on pilot charts as areas with a documented history of confusion or heightened collision risk – places where even experienced crews can make critical mistakes.

The collision left cables and debris dangling from the mangled cockpit.

Air traffic control audio shared by NBC New York revealed the moments leading up to the collision, which began with another flight reporting an emergency on the other side of the airport.

The fire truck was cleared to cross the airport’s Runway 4 before air traffic controllers frantically urged a Frontier plane bound for Miami – and the vehicle – to stop.

‘Truck One, stop, stop, stop!’ an air traffic controller is heard saying, before addressing the plane seconds later: ‘JAZZ 646, I see you collided with the vehicle. Just hold position. I know you can’t move. Vehicles are responding to you now.’

Air traffic controllers told the Frontier crew that the runway would be closed, asking if they would like to return to the ramp.

‘We got stuff in progress for that man, that wasn’t good to watch,’ a Frontier pilot said.

‘Yeah, I tried to reach out to them. We were dealing with an emergency, and I messed up,’ the controller replied, before the Frontier pilot tries to reassure him, saying: ‘No, you did the best you could.’