West Coast Wildfire + Quake

#Wildfire🔥 Need help; tweet/DM to reach us👍 "When I was a boy and I'd see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping'... because if you look for the helpers, you'll know that there's hope.”~Fred Rogers

200 record high temps are forecast this week across the nation. Fire weather watches and Red Flag Warnings continue, with increased potential for wildfires.

New Article Out: Wildfire Updates: Wyoming Fire Rips 1,600 Acres, 24 Fire In Colorado Grows To 7,400 Acres, 3 Crew Carriers Burned Over On The Cottonwood Fire. Plus a workout. thehotshotwakeup.substack.com/p/wildfire-upd…

Scoopers putting in work in warm and sunny Colorado this afternoon.

Looks like the other emergency vehicles were moving, then stopped. The fire truck just kept going.

@vcdgf555 More than likely all the fire truck would have heard in the cabin was the turbo diesel -- those things are ridiculously loud when accelerating. CBC up here is saying the flight attendant was found outside the aircraft strapped in the jumpseat which makes sense based off damage.

A lot have asked why Truck 1 apparently didn’t hear Tower’s direction to stop. Airport Rescue and Fire Fighting (ARFF) trucks are very loud, especially at speed on pavement. They’re equipped with large, off road, tires which have a very loud hum on pavement. Add that to the diesel engine roaring to propel the 60,000lb vehicle forward. Many trucks are equipped with headsets for the personnel to wear to mitigate some noise, but it’s still loud. Similar type of vehicle pictured below for reference.

They ignored the RWSL lights also. You can see the turn off shortly before they collided. Those are basically a red light like you see at an intersection. It means do not proceed without verification that the runway is clear. I pointed out previously that this runway was equipped, and now we know they were working.

Tough to watch. One thing I notice is the Runway Entrance Lights (REL) are illuminated when the truck starts moving. I did a post on RELs earlier. If the lights are on, you’re not supposed to move, even if you have clearance. They turn off before the jet crosses the taxiway. This is by design. I don’t know the exact logic there, but at SFO the Takeoff Hold Lights (THL) – which are part of the same Runway Status Light system – turn off before a jet landing or departing on a crossing runway has actually crossed your runway. You can get cleared for takeoff slightly before the jet has crossed your runway…which is fine, there is no risk you’ll hit them, as they are on the landing roll moving quickly & will be across your runway long before you get there. In any event, the red lights are going to play a part here & investigators will have questions. To see them, look in the middle of the runway early in the segment. Watch it a few times & you’ll notice there is a line of them extending across the runway.

This looks bad. I hope injuries are all minor, but I don’t know & it looks bad. Before I begin: I *do not* know what happened. Nobody does at this point. It seems like a fire truck was on the runway during either a takeoff or landing…but *I do NOT know that*. Fire trucks & airport maintenance sometimes need to be on the runways, and they follow pretty much the same procedures aircraft do, using the same radio frequencies so we can all hear each other. Paying attention to what Tower is telling others to do builds a mental model of everything occurring in your environment, which we refer to as “Situational Awareness”. It’s a tough thing to teach new students. At some airports, LGA included, they have “Runway Status Lights” (RSL). These are little red lights imbedded in the pavement. If in the pavement where a taxiway crosses a runway, they are known as “Runway Entrance Lights” (REL). If imbedded in the runway ahead of your position for takeoff, they are known as “Takeoff Hold Lights” (THL). Both sets of lights work autonomously, with no input from ATC. They detect when an aircraft or vehicle is on the runway or is about to be & illuminate red in a line. If the THLs are red when Tower clears you for takeoff, then you can’t takeoff. The system thinks something is there or is about to be there that Tower may not be aware of. It can detect a jet landing on a crossing runway about 1 mile from touchdown & prevent the jet trying to takeoff from going, even if Tower has cleared them to. The RELs light up in a similar way, to prevent you from crossing a runway that either has traffic on it or is about to. If Tower has cleared you to cross the runway but the RELs are illuminated, you can’t go. Illumination of RSL lights takes precedence over ATC instructions…but *both* conditions must be satisfied. You must have permission to cross / takeoff & the lights must be extinguished. In aircraft, when crossing any runway we turn on some extra lights, to make ourselves visible. Even during the day…best to instill a habit. We turn them back off when the crossing is complete to not blind others. Most pilots will call “Clear Left” & “Clear Right” before starting a runway crossing (or making any turn to another taxiway, etc.). The Captain looks left for traffic & the FO to the right, regardless of which direction we are turning. We’re visually confirming that ATC hasn’t missed something before we start to cross. When we commit to cross, we do so expeditiously. That’s tough if you’re starting from a dead stop…it takes time to build momentum, and we don’t want to use full thrust for fear of blowing over something behind us. Nevertheless, we don’t lolly gag on a runway. We’ll slow down again on the other side. On landing, we look down the length of the runway to see if anything is on it. It’s easier to spot jets than vehicles, but both can be tough to spot in bad conditions, especially at night…you might not be able to see them, and your best hope is noticing that some of the runway lights aren’t showing up (blocked by an object). We can go-around even after touching down, as long as the thrust reversers haven’t been deployed. Once the Reversers are out, you are committed. Busy airports have a need to cross jets & vehicles over runways even when jets are on final approach. Someone is *always* on final approach, it’s just a matter of distance from the runway. They similarly clear jets for takeoff from a crossing runway even when a jet is on final. If they didn’t, airports would totally bog down. For the most part, ATC is really, really good at this. Again, I *DO NOT* know what happened here & this should not be construed as my implying something. I’m just trying to provide helpful background information. For the time being, we should be focused on the people & hoping nobody was too badly injured.

@airmainengineer Truck 1 entered the runway even though the lights appear to say not to.

Important note regarding the accident at LaGuardia Airport. United 2384 wanted to return to gate. Odor in back of plane. Pilot couldn’t raise anyone at United to help get him a gate. Air traffic controller tried to help. There were no gates. Pilot asked for fire truck. 1/2

Air traffic controller gave permission for fire truck to cross active runway as Air Canada 646 was landing. Plane struck fire truck. Airport & air traffic control system stretched beyond capacity. Human error caused the accident. An available gate may have prevented tragedy.

Clearance of the truck to cross runway 4 was the problem. Controller distraction while handling the United problem contributed. United should have been handed to ground, especially after he made a wrong turn. That would have kept the controller focused on the active runway. BEWARE OF EDITED ATC TAPES THAT ARE CIRCULATING ON X. THEY LEAVE OUT KEY TRANSMISSIONS. SOMEONE IS ADVANCING AN AGENDA WITH THESE SUSPICIOUS EDITS.

@RonWaxman no gates. no staff answering. fire truck on an active runway. this isnt one failure, its a chain of systems all failing at once because everything is running at maximum capacity with no margin for error

@RonWaxman Imagine having an emergency in the sky and getting put on hold by your own company. The "no gates available" excuse doesn't really fly when there's an active fire risk. 🚒📵

@RonWaxman @AlisaJass There shouldn’t be just ONE traffic controller handling both plane landings AND solving gate problems. A plane landing should take precedence over anything else happening on the ground. The “human error” cop-out is bunk. Heads should roll AND the ATC staffing issue corrected ASAP

Did the pilot see the firetruck coming? Planes should have cameras near the landing gear/nose area so that they can see everything in their blind spots and ideally they should be able to have cross traffic alerts similar to techs in cars. Crazy these simple techs are not in planes

🚨Chilling surveillance footage has emerged showing the moment Air Canada Flight AC8646 collided with a Port Authority fire truck on the runway at LaGuardia Airport (LGA) last night. Authorities have confirmed that both pilots were killed in the crash. Dozens of passengers, along with the two fire truck occupants, were injured and transported to nearby hospitals. The airport remains closed as the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) begins its investigation into the deadly incident. Incident Summary • Flight: Air Canada Express AC8646 (operated by Jazz Aviation) from Montreal • Casualties: Captain and First Officer died; 40+ others hurt • Cause: Preliminary information and ATC audio indicate the fire truck was responding to a separate “odor” emergency involving a United Airlines flight and had been cleared to cross the runway, leading to the collision

A flight attendant was found by Port Authority Police outside the Air Canada aircraft after it collided with the truck, still strapped into her jumpseat, two sources have said. According to preliminary information, it appeared that the engines were off when responders arrived. As a result, responders were able to open the rear exit and escort passengers to safety. The plane is said to have struck the middle of the truck — causing the officers seated up front to be thrown from the vehicle — but enabling them to survive. The sergeant and a police officer who were on the truck are in a stable condition with non life-threatening injuries.

NEW: An Air Canada flight attendant was found by Port Authority Police still strapped in her jumpseat outside of the plane. The flight attendant is hurt - but will be OK ... two sources briefed on the investigation tell @jonathan4ny