Accidents
Pilots Blast NTSB Report on La Guardia Runway Excursion
ALPA claims Safety Board failed to identify multiple factors in 2015 accident
A Delta Air Lines MD-88 taxis at New York LaGuardia Airport. (Photo: Flickr: Creative Commons (BY-SA) by Aero Icarus)
A Delta Air Lines MD-88 taxis at New York LaGuardia Airport. (Photo: Flickr: Creative Commons (BY-SA) by Aero Icarus)

The Air Line Pilots Association has criticized the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board for what the union characterized as abandonment of a so-called “systems approach” to accident investigation in its probe of the March 5, 2015 runway excursion by a Delta Air Lines MD-88 at New York La Guardia Airport. In a report issued Tuesday detailing the probable cause of the incident, the NTSB cited the application of excessive reverse thrust during the landing, leading to a loss of directional control and causing the jet to veer off the left side of the runway.