00:27One, two, one, two, mic check.
00:35The administrator and I were at the crash site earlier today, which is easily visible
00:41from the airport.
00:41It's incredibly sad, it's troubling, and I just want to let America know that we are
00:51working our hearts off to make sure that when people travel, whether by rail or car or by
00:58air, that they travel safely.
01:01And we put in precautions and policies to make sure that you are safe when you travel.
01:07When I was at the crash site, it was just a reminder that when you're traveling by air,
01:14you should wear your seatbelt.
01:15LaGuardia is open.
01:16There is a reduced capacity because the aircraft and the fire truck are still in their positions
01:26from last night.
01:27So we are going to have reduced capacity for some time, but the airport is operational.
01:32I've been asking the Congress for additional money.
01:36Many of you have reported that we need more money for air traffic control.
01:40We are modernizing our system, but we can't fully modernize it until the Congress gives
01:46us additional money.
01:47Before you ask me a question about our staffing for air traffic controllers, I'll just give
01:52you an update on how LaGuardia operates.
01:55I'm not going to talk about specifics, but this airport has a target of 37 controllers
02:01at LaGuardia.
02:03We have 33 controllers employed, certified at LaGuardia, and we have six that are, seven
02:11actually that are in training.
02:13So as our airports go, LaGuardia is a very well-staffed airport.
02:18We're a couple of controllers short in total, but it is a well-staffed airport.
02:24We have a structures group that will be documenting the airframe wreckage and the accident scene,
02:31including calculating impact angles.
02:34And we have an air traffic control investigative group, as well as, I mentioned, a cockpit voice
02:41recorder and flight data recorder group.
02:45And finally, we'll have an airport operations and survival factors combined group.
02:51That group will look at the airport rescue and firefighting operations at the airport, and they
03:00will look at injuries to occupants as it relates to the dynamics of this crash.
03:10I mentioned we have the CVR and FDR.
03:12We've also collected and have continued to collect surveillance video.
03:16The question is, what is currently happening with that air traffic controller?
03:20Typically, they would be removed from duty, and certainly it's pretty traumatic for that
03:28air traffic controller as well.
03:30And we'll want to interview that air traffic controller as well as others that were in the
03:34tower or maybe not even in the tower.
03:36The question is, how long will that runway be closed for us to conduct our investigation?
03:44It's going to take some time.
03:45I just want to express how much there is a lot of debris.
03:50We need to go through all of that.
03:53Then we need to collect some of that evidence.
03:55Then we get to that.
03:56It's going to be days.
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