An Air Canada plane collided with an emergency car on the runway at New York City’s LaGuardia Airport in the late hours of Sunday night time, killing two pilots and injuring dozens of individuals, together with a flight attendant thrown from the plane whereas nonetheless strapped to her seat.
Emergency autos flooded the runway and passengers inched out onto the wing of the plane in the aftermath of the crash.
“It was just chaos in there,” stated Jack Cabot, one in every of 72 passengers aboard the flight touring from Montreal. “Everybody was hunkered down and everybody was screaming pretty quickly.”
Both Canadian and American authorities are investigating the collision, which follows a number of high-profile aviation disasters in 2025 — together with a surprising midair collision between a army helicopter and a business jet close to Washington, DC, which left 67 useless — that introduced scrutiny to the business and triggered calls for reform.
The crash marks the first deaths at LaGuardia, the New York space’s third-busiest airport, in 34 years, Port Authority Executive Director Kathryn Garcia stated Monday.
Sunday night time’s collision introduced operations at the airport – a main transit hub that served over 32 million passengers last year – screeching to a halt earlier than it reopened Monday afternoon. Hundreds of flights have been cancelled at the airport, and runway 4 will stay closed till 7 a.m. Friday, in response to a public discover from the FAA.
The closure got here as a Department of Homeland Security funding shutdown has led to TSA staffing shortages and big traces at airports throughout the nation, with some passengers reporting hours spent ready to undergo safety.
There’s no proof the shutdown contributed to the collision; air visitors controllers, in contrast to TSA brokers, are nonetheless paid throughout this partial shutdown.
Here’s what we know about the collision.
Just three minutes elapsed between when the Air Canada flight was cleared to land and when it collided with the fire truck.
Air Canada Flight 8646 took off from Montreal-Trudeau International Airport shortly after 10:30 p.m. ET Sunday night time. The plane, with 4 crew members, arrived at LaGuardia about an hour later, in response to the flight monitoring web site FlightRadar24. It was cleared to land at round 11:35 p.m.
On the different aspect of the airport, one other plane had already reported an emergency.
United Flight 2384, scheduled to depart for Chicago, aborted its takeoff as a result of a warning mild at round 11:18 p.m. As controllers labored to seek out a gate for that plane, the pilots reported an odor in the cabin had sickened the flight attendants, in response to a LiveATC.com recording of air visitors management audio.
A Port Authority plane rescue and firefighting car dispatched to answer the United flight requested permission to cross the runway the place the Air Canada plane was touchdown.
Just 10 seconds after granting permission for the fire truck to cross, the controller appeared to reverse course and advised it to cease, the audio signifies.
“Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop, truck 1. Stop,” he stated.
The collision happened about 11:38 p.m., simply three minutes after the Air Canada flight was cleared to land. The controller can then be heard directing different plane to abort their landings and “go around,” noting the runway is now closed.
The Air Canada plane was touring about 104 miles per hour simply earlier than it hit the fire truck, in response to the final information level collected earlier than the collision by Flightradar24.
Video footage and air visitors management audio are serving to to piece collectively a tough timeline of the occasions that led as much as the deadly incident.
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11:17 p.m. ET – United 2384 cleared for takeoff.
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11:18 p.m. ET – United 2384 aborts takeoff.
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11:20 p.m. ET – United 2384 says it’s heading again to gate, notes an odor and requests firefighters.
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11:31 p.m. ET – United 2384 declares emergency as a result of odor.
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Approximately 11:35 p.m. ET – Air Canada Flight 8646, operated by Jazz Aviation, is cleared to land on runway 4.
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11:36 p.m. ET – Fire truck 1 requests permission to cross the runway at the intersecting taxiway. “Truck one and company, LaGuardia Tower, requesting to cross 4 at Delta,” the fire truck radios the tower.
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11:36 p.m. ET – Controller grants permission for the fire truck to cross. “Truck one and company, cross 4 at Delta,” the tower responds.
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11:37 p.m. ET – About 10 seconds later, the controller urgently says, “Stop, stop, stop truck one, stop. Stop, stop…. Stop truck one, stop.”
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11:37 p.m. ET – Air Canada plane touches down.
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Approximately 11:38 p.m. ET – Collision happens.
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11:38 p.m. ET – Controller points first “go around” to inform incoming planes to abort their landings and circle the airport.
Chaos and worry on board
Inside the plane, there was chaos as the flight landed and collided with the truck.
“We went down for a regular landing; we came in pretty hard. We immediately hit something,” stated Cabot, one in every of the passengers aboard the Air Canada flight.
Another passenger, Rebecca Liquori, described a “very loud boom” as the plane struck the car.
“Everybody just jolted out of their seats,” Liquori, who had taken a one-day journey to Canada for a child bathe, recalled. “People hit their heads, people were bleeding.”
Passenger captures rapid aftermath scene of Air Canada collision
Both Liquori and Cabot stated with none course from crew members, passengers selected their very own to open the emergency exit and flee the plane.
Video captured by Cabot reveals passengers standing on the wing of the plane as they exit the plane.
At one level, the plane might be seen slowly tilting upward as particles hangs from its entrance.
“All passengers come this way, come this way,” somebody might be heard saying on a loudspeaker.
Eighteen minutes after the plane collided with the fire truck, the air visitors controller in the tower appeared to say to a pilot on the floor radio frequency: “I messed up.”
The change happened with a Frontier Airlines pilot ready to return to the gate who noticed the crash.
“That, that wasn’t good to watch,” the pilot stated in audio recorded by LiveATC.web.
“Yeah, I know. I tried to reach out to them,” the noticeably distraught controller stated. “We were dealing with an emergency earlier. I messed up.”
The pilot responded, “nah man, you did the best you could.”
The air visitors communications can be a a part of the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board’s in depth investigation into the reason for the crash. Determining the root reason for an accident can take a yr or longer and infrequently entails a number of contributing components.
The National Air Traffic Controllers Association, the labor union representing controllers, didn’t present remark when reached by NCS.
Pilot and copilot killed
The Air Line Pilots Association referred to as the deaths of the pilot and copilot a “profound tragedy” in a statement.
“These pilots dedicated their careers to the safe transport of passengers, and we are all thinking of their families, loved ones, and colleagues at Jazz Aviation during this devastating time,” Capt. Jason Ambrosi, ALPA president, stated in the assertion.
The union stated its accident investigation workforce is heading to help the NTSB and is offering assist to pilots and households concerned.
FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford stated the pilots had been “young men at the start of their careers” at a information convention Monday.
One of the pilots has been recognized as Antoine Forest. A member of the family, Jeannette Gagnier, confirmed to the Toronto Star on Monday that the Coteau-du-Lac native was one in every of the pilots killed in the crash.
More than 43 folks had been hospitalized and “many” have since been launched, in response to Garcia, the head of the Port Authority.
In a video launched Monday afternoon, Air Canada’s CEO stated the ultimate variety of casualties stays unclear.
“We are working with authorities to confirm the number of injuries and if there are any other fatalities,” Air Canada President and CEO Michael Rousseau stated.
The two firefighters in the truck, recognized Monday as Sgt. Michael Orsillo and Officer Adrian Baez had been each hospitalized, Garcia stated, including that one was anticipated to be released Monday afternoon, whereas the different can be saved in a single day for commentary.
Other Port Authority firefighters witnessed the crash and shortly started “evacuating the passengers, securing their safety while not knowing if their fellow officers in Truck 1 were dead or alive,” the Port Authority Police Benevolent Association stated in a statement.
One flight attendant who survived the crash was discovered outdoors the plane – nonetheless strapped in her seat, a regulation enforcement supply advised NCS.
The attendant was recognized as Solange Tremblay by her daughter, Sarah Lépine, in an interview with NCS affiliate TVA Nouvelles. Lépine stated her mom suffered a number of fractures, was taken to the hospital and can bear surgical procedure for a damaged leg.
“It’s all a miracle,” her daughter stated. “At the moment of impact, her seat was ejected more than 100 meters from the plane. They found her and she was still strapped in her seat. She had a guardian angel who was looking right at her. It could have been so much worse.”
Canadian and US officers are working intently collectively on the investigation into the collision, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney stated Monday.
“The collision involving an Air Canada Express aircraft last night in New York that claimed the lives of the pilot and copilot, and injured dozens more, is deeply saddening,” Carney said on X.
Both the US and Canadian transportation security boards are deploying investigative groups to the crash web site, officers stated Monday.
Additionally, Duffy and Bedford had been headed to the airport Monday morning, Bedford said on X.
He prolonged his ideas and prayers to the victims of the crash and their households. Bedford additionally stated the FAA will proceed to assist the NTSB in its investigation.
At a Monday information convention, NTSB chairwoman Jennifer Homendy stated investigators hope to know quickly if recorders in the plane have usable information.
Earlier Monday, Port Authority, which runs the airport, and different emergency responders lower a gap in the roof of the plane to retrieve the flight information recorder and cockpit voice recorder, she stated. The NTSB verified that the cockpit voice recorder was not broken.
The scene remains to be littered with wreckage from the collision: There is a “tremendous amount of debris” on the runway and “hazardous material” on the fire truck that was hit, Homendy stated.
It’s additionally unclear whether or not the fire truck was seen on the airport’s floor detection tools (ASDE-X) when it collided with the plane, Homendy stated.
Sunday’s collision comes as air journey passengers throughout the nation are already going through eye-popping wait instances – with passengers even ready outdoors the terminal, or in parking garages, at some airports. The lapse of DHS funding has left TSA officers working with out pay, and greater than 400 officers have give up outright, in response to Lauren Bis, appearing assistant secretary for public affairs with the Department of Homeland Security.
The Trump administration has dispatched ICE brokers to 14 airports Monday, in what it says is a bid to alleviate the TSA employees scarcity. It’s unclear what roles the brokers are performing.
At LaGuardia, stranded passengers camped out in the terminal in a single day ready for phrase on if and after they would have the ability to proceed their journeys.
“We’re learning this information as they’re (the airlines) learning it,” a passenger from Chicago, Katie Rojas, advised NCS. “Every few hours last night, everything was changing.”
Rojas stated she hoped the airport can be on observe to reopen Monday afternoon, as deliberate, so she will be able to get dwelling.
Another passenger hoping to make it to Chicago, Diana Cruz, stated she was grateful for her security: She and Rojas had been initially booked on the United Airlines flight that reported the warning mild and the unusual odor.
“Just kind of glad that we’re all safe now that we have learned about it,” Cruz stated. “Because it could have been us, it could have been anyone at this point.”