Two air traffic controllers stepped away early from their posts at LaGuardia Airport, potentially leaving the tower short-staffed before a jet collided with a fire truck in March, killing two people, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Those controllers are now among a dozen nationwide that the Federal Aviation Administration is taking steps to fire, the people said, as the agency investigates a wide range of timecard irregularities at facilities across the country. Early departures that are not recorded as such are considered a form of timecard fraud.
The revelation that the F.A.A. is cracking down on the practice raises questions about whether already short-staffed towers are operating with fewer workers than official statistics suggest.
The F.A.A.’s moves come as the National Transportation Safety Board continues to probe the cause of the collision between an Air Canada Express jet and fire truck on March 22. A spokesman for the N.T.S.B. declined to comment on the F.A.A. finding, adding that the board was still working to determine a cause of the collision.
It was not immediately clear whether the controllers’ early departure from the LaGuardia tower played a direct role in causing the crash, and when they were supposed to finish their shift.
In response to a request for comment, the Department of Transportation provided a statement from Sean Duffy, the secretary of transportation, suggesting that a majority of controllers were accurately reporting their hours.
“But when a small percentage of individuals take advantage of the American taxpayer, unfairly add additional work to their fellow controllers, and impact the airspace — we have no choice but to act,” Mr. Duffy said. “We will not tolerate fraud, and we are taking appropriate action to hold folks accountable and prevent unlawful practices from disrupting the traveling public.”
Yet some seasoned air traffic controllers are questioning why the F.A.A. is choosing this moment to take such aggressive moves against a practice that shift supervisors have long used as a way of rewarding overtaxed controllers, many of whom are forced to work six days a week to make up for staff shortages. The Wall Street Journal first reported Thursday that the F.A.A. was pursuing disciplinary action against the LaGuardia controllers.
“The F.A.A. has known for years that controllers were leaving early,” said Harvey Scolnick, a retired controller who previously worked in the tower at John F. Kennedy International Airport, adding: “They just never did anything about it.”
According to the N.T.S.B.’s preliminary findings, there were only two controllers in the tower at 11:37 p.m., when a landing Air Canada jet careened into a fire truck that had been given clearance to cross the runway. Investigators noted early on in their probe that it was unclear if other controllers had been present elsewhere in the tower, raising questions about whether official records correctly reflected staffing levels that night.
It is common practice at midsize airports like LaGuardia for just two people to work a shift overnight, when runway traffic is usually light. But on the night of the accident, the airport tower was especially busy, because rain and thunderstorms had delayed several arrivals and departures throughout the day, pushing them to the overnight shift.
A review of flights in and out of LaGuardia compiled by the tracking website FlightRadar24 revealed that after 11 p.m., the rate of takeoffs and landings was roughly the same pace as what controllers had been handling throughout the evening.
A spokesman for the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, the union for the controllers, did not answer specific questions on the staffing protocols or if the F.A.A. plans to discipline the controllers.
“NATCA is actively discussing these allegations with F.A.A. leadership,” an emailed statement reads. “We believe those discussions are the appropriate forum for addressing the matter.”
Caitlyn Freeman and Patrick McGeehan contributed reporting.
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