The O’Toole Chronicles: In crisis, don’t talk, but listen and hear

It was 1:15 a.m. on Monday, March 23, when the phone rang. When the phone rings in the middle of the night, it is not going to be good news. I quickly learned that late Sunday evening, March 22, an Air Canada Express jet landing at LaGuardia Airport collided with a Port Authority fire truck responding to a call from another aircraft.

Other calls quickly followed and I was on the move. The two pilots of the Air Canada plane, Antoine Forest and Mackenzie Gunther, had been killed, and the two Port Authority Aircraft Rescue Fighting Unit officers on the fire truck – Officer Adrian Baez and Sergeant Michael Orsillo – as well as 41 passengers and crew on the jet had been injured – some seriously – and were taken to area hospitals.

My first stop was LaGuardia where I was joined by the Port Authority’s new executive director, Kathryn Garcia, and we met with the commander on the scene and then went to the crash site. It was an emotional experience, and it is remarkable that there were fewer fatalities. Even at that moment, I understood that the worst thing I could do – that any of us could do – was to rush to judgement on how this happened.

When you are new in public service you often think you’re supposed to rush to a microphone and say something, or even worse, do something quickly.

More than 40 years of public service later, I can tell you that you are supposed to do something; you’re supposed to listen.

It is not easy, particularly when a tragic event is unfolding in real time. Two young pilots died, many were injured, and the scene of the tragedy stirs deep emotions. When you are new, you too often forget that you’re human and these events affect you just as they affect everyone else.

And that’s OK. It’s OK to be human. And that is why the best thing you can do is listen.

Listen to the first responders on scene. Listen to the professionals on your teams who can better assess the situation. And wait to listen to the experts – in this case the National Transportation Safety Board that is leading the investigation into this tragic incident and will prepare a comprehensive report in the weeks and months to come.

None of this is easy, but all of it is important because listening allows us to get all the facts over time, while it allows us to hear the human experience in the moment. We cannot explain within hours or even weeks exactly how such a tragedy occurred. But we can immediately make clear to the people most impacted that we hear them.

We hear the disbelief that comes from shock. We hear the sadness in their voices over loss. We hear the underlying fear all of us have of the unknown that can change our lives in a second.

After Executive Director Garcia and I left LaGuardia, we went to New York-Presbyterian Queens where our Aircraft Rescue Fighting Unit officers had been taken. We met with both Officer Baez and Sergeant Orsillo.

It was an emotional day.

The investigation into the LaGuardia crash will take time and, as I already stated, it is important that no one rushes to conclusions before all the facts have been gathered. It is not appropriate for me to comment on an ongoing investigation.

But it is appropriate for me to comment on the professionalism of the responders – from Port Authority employees, the NYPD, the NYFD, other area first responders, and the medical teams at the hospitals where the injured were taken.

And it is more than appropriate – it is a necessity – for me to comment on the dedication and professionalism of the 8,000 individuals who make the Port Authority strong and resilient.

It has been reported that it has been more than 30 years since there was a fatal crash at LaGuardia. Yet the Port Authority is not a stranger to tragedy; none of us living in this region are. It is not the tragedy that makes us strong; it is the people who come together in the crisis that makes us strong.

I often write about the mistakes those of us who chose public service can make if we become too focused on the “me” rather than the “us.” This is an even more important lesson when faced with a tragic event.

When the phone rings at 1:15 in the morning, remember that whatever lies ahead, no matter how difficult or emotional the situation may be, your immediate job is not to speak first, but to listen always.

Kevin J. O’Toole is the Chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.