U.S. media reports suggest the Federal Aviation Administration is looking to fire the two flight controllers, who allegedly clocked out roughly an hour before their shift ended, leaving a pair of colleagues at the LaGuardia tower without backup, .
The National Air Traffic Controllers Association confirmed the allegations, first reported by the Wall Street Journal on Thursday.
Shortly after 11:30 p.m. on March 22, an air traffic controller cleared an Air Canada Express plane to land less than two minutes before green-lighting a fire truck to cross the active runway. The resulting collision left two Canadian aviators dead and sent more than 40 people to hospital.