An Air Canada jet carrying more than 70 passengers collided with a fire truck while landing at New York\u2019s LaGuardia Airport late Sunday, killing the pilot and copilot and injuring several others, officials said.<\/p>\n
The impact severed the cockpit and hurled a flight attendant \u2014 still secured to her seat \u2014 far from the crash site, her daughter told a Canadian TV station. The flight attendant survived. <\/p>\n
The fire truck was crossing the tarmac just before midnight after being given permission to check on another plane that had aborted its takeoff. Before the collision, an air traffic controller can be heard on airport communications frantically telling the fire truck to stop.<\/p>\n
Roughly 20 minutes later, the controller appears to blame himself. \u201cWe were dealing with an emergency earlier,\u201d the controller said. \u201cI messed up.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\t![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/gettyimages-2267930568-69c0fa797ceea.jpg\"\/ "\\"An")
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\n\t\tSpencer Platt\/Getty Images\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAn Air Canada Express plane sits on the tarmac after it collided with a fire truck on the tarmac at LaGuardia Airport on March 23, 2026 in New York City.<\/p>\n
About 40 passengers and crew members on the regional jet from Montreal, and two people from the fire truck, were taken to hospitals, some with serious injuries. Most were released by Monday morning, authorities said.<\/p>\n
A key for investigators will be examining coordination of the airport\u2019s air traffic and ground traffic at the time of the crash, said Mary Schiavo, a former Department of Transportation Inspector General. \u201cThis has been happening for years, and sadly, some of the most horrific air crashes in history happen on the ground at the airport.\u201d<\/p>\n
Video below: \u2018Stop, stop, stop\u2019 heard from control tower during LaGuardia airport collision<\/strong><\/p>\n Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said LaGuardia is \u201cwell-staffed\u201d but faces a shortage of controllers. He said there are 33 certified controllers but the goal is to have 37. More than one controller was on duty at the time of the accident, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t give specifics on what went wrong,\u201d Duffy said, deferring to the National Transportation Safety Board, which is leading the investigation and planned a news conference for Monday evening. Canada also sent a team of investigators.<\/p>\n Video above: Briefing on Air Canada collision<\/strong><\/p>\n The runway where the crash happened is likely to be closed for \u201cdays\u201d during the investigation, NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy said at a Monday evening news conference. She said there was a \u201ctremendous amount of debris\u201d that investigators have to sift through.<\/p>\n Homendy said authorities recovered the plane’s cockpit and flight data recorders and drove them to the agency’s lab in Washington for analysis. Officials had to cut a hole in the aircraft’s roof to get to the recorders, because its tail was on the ground, she said, adding that the cockpit voice recorder was not damaged.<\/p>\n Homendy said it was too early in the investigation to answer many questions about the accident, and more information was expected to be released Tuesday.<\/p>\n Video below: NTSB provides update after collision<\/strong><\/p>\n The crash shut down LaGuardia \u2014 the New York region\u2019s third busiest hub \u2014 during what was already a messy time at U.S. airports because of a partial government shutdown.<\/p>\n Flights resumed Monday afternoon on one runway and with lengthy delays. The shutdown caused some disruptions at other airports, too, especially for Delta, which has a major presence at LaGuardia.<\/p>\n Passenger says they helped each other escape the plane<\/p>\n Airport security camera video shows a convoy of emergency vehicles traveling across the tarmac with their lights flashing in the moments before the plane lands, according to a recording of the video shared online.<\/p>\n While most of the vehicles appear to stop at the edge of the runway, the lead vehicle keeps going, directly into the path of the aircraft.<\/p>\n A person familiar with the investigation confirmed the authenticity of the video. The person requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss details of an ongoing investigation.<\/p>\n Video above: Passenger describes moments after collision<\/strong><\/p>\n The collision left cables and debris dangling from the mangled cockpit. Images show the fire truck flipped onto its side, with most of the damage to its back half.<\/p>\n Flight attendant Solange Tremblay suffered multiple fractures to one leg and will need surgery after being thrown from the plane, daughter Sarah L\u00e9pine told Canadian news station TVA Nouvelles<\/a>.<\/p>\n Her survival is \u201ca total miracle,\u201d L\u00e9pine said. \u201cI\u2019m still trying to understand how all this happened, but she definitely has a guardian angel watching over her.\u201d<\/p>\n Passenger Rebecca Liquori said the plane hit turbulence while descending, and she then felt it brake hard and heard a loud boom.<\/p>\n \u201cEverybody just jolted out of their seats. People hit their heads. People were bleeding,\u201d Liquori told News12 Long Island<\/a>, a station where she once worked.<\/p>\n Liquori said passengers helped each other slide down a wing.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m just happy to be alive,\u201d said Liquori, who had gone to Montreal for a cousin\u2019s baby shower. \u201cI would have never pictured a one-hour flight that I\u2019ve done countless times \u2026 ending like this.\u201d<\/p>\n Passenger Cl\u00e9ment Leli\u00e8vre credited the pilots’ \u201cincredible reflexes\u201d with saving his life and others’. The pilots braked extremely hard just as the plane touched down, he said.<\/p>\n U.S. and Canada sending investigators to New York<\/p>\n The pilot and copilot who died were both based out of Canada, said Kathryn Garcia, executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the airport.<\/p>\n Jeannette Gagnier, the great aunt of one of the pilots, identified him as Antoine Forest. Forest looked at her as a grandmother figure and always wanted to be a pilot, she said. His LinkedIn page showed he had worked for two airlines the past five years.<\/p>\n President Donald Trump called it a \u201cterrible\u201d situation. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said in a statement the accident was \u201cdeeply saddening.\u201d<\/p>\n The Port Authority identified the two people in the fire truck as Sgt. Michael Orsillo and Officer Adrian Baez. They suffered injuries not believed to be life-threatening, Garcia said. One was expected to be released Monday while the other will stay in the hospital for observation, she said.<\/p>\n The fire truck was traveling across the runway to respond to a United Airlines flight, whose pilot had reported \u201can issue with odor,\u201d said Garcia.<\/p>\n It was the first fatal crash at LaGuardia in 34 years, Garcia said.<\/p>\n There were 72 passengers and four crew members aboard the Jazz Aviation flight operating on behalf of Air Canada, according to the airline. The flight originated at Montreal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport.<\/p>\n Hours after the crash, the plane remained on the runway with its crumpled nose tilted upward.<\/p>\n LaGuardia has a system to spot runway encounters<\/p>\n The air traffic controller tried to warn the fire truck.<\/p>\n \u201cStop, stop, stop, Truck 1. Stop, stop, stop,\u201d the transmission says. \u201cStop, Truck 1.\u201d The controller can then be heard frantically diverting an incoming aircraft from landing.<\/p>\n