‘I Messed Up’: Harrowing Final Moments in LaGuardia Crash (2)

Air-traffic controllers were helping a fire truck’s crew navigate a rain-slicked tarmac at New York’s LaGuardia before midnight on Sunday when panic suddenly set in.

The crew had been summoned to inspect a United Airlines Holdings Inc. jet preparing to take off. The drama that followed would quickly become the latest in a series of deadly US aviation disasters.

“Stop, stop, stop, stop, Truck 1, stop, stop, stop,” a controller can be heard saying at around 11:37 p.m. New York time. “Stop, Truck 1, stop! Stop, Truck 1, stop!” the controller continues, becoming increasingly frantic.

What sounds like the same ...