What to know
- An Air Canada Express flight hit a fire truck while landing at LaGuardia, killing both pilots and injuring dozens.
- Audio shows a controller cleared the truck onto the runway, then frantically yelled “stop” as the plane approached.
- All 72 passengers and four crew members survived; 41 were hospitalized, nine in serious condition.
- U.S. and Canadian authorities are investigating, with Air Canada cooperating but details still preliminary.
Newly released air traffic control audio is shedding light on the moments leading up to a deadly collision at New York’s LaGuardia Airport involving an Air Canada flight.
The exchange, which took place seconds before impact Sunday night, suggests a breakdown in coordination as an incoming Air Canada Express flight approached the runway while a fire truck was crossing it.
In the audio, a controller could be heard repeatedly calling for the truck to “stop” after initially clearing the vehicle onto an active runway, and later said “I messed up” following the collision.
A second controller responded: “No man, you did the best you could.”
The aircraft — Air Canada Express Flight AC8646, operated by Jazz Aviation — had just arrived from Montreal when it collided with the emergency vehicle shortly after landing at around 11:40 p.m.
The crash killed both pilots on board and left dozens of passengers injured.
U.S. authorities say all 72 passengers and four crew members have been accounted for. Forty-one people were taken to hospitals in Queens following the collision, with nine still in care as of Monday morning, some in serious condition.
Airport officials say the fire truck had been responding to a separate emergency involving an aborted takeoff of a United Airlines flight when it was directed onto the runway.
In a statement, Air Canada confirmed the captain and first officer were killed in the crash, calling the loss “deeply saddening” and extending condolences to their families and colleagues.
Canadian officials, including Prime Minister Mark Carney, say they are working closely with U.S. authorities as the investigation unfolds.
“The collision involving an Air Canada Express aircraft last night in New York that claimed the lives of the pilot and co-pilot, and injured dozens more, is deeply saddening,” Carney said in a statement on X (formerly Twitter).
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is sending investigators to New York to assist, alongside the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board.
Air Canada says it is cooperating fully with both agencies, but cautioned that details remain preliminary as investigators work to determine exactly how the runway incursion occurred.
