Pilot, co-pilot killed after plane hits ground vehicle at New York’s LaGuardia Airport
Updated ,first published
new York: The pilot and co-pilot of an Air Canada Express regional jet with 76 people on board died when it collided with a fire truck while landing at New York’s LaGuardia airport late Sunday (New York time), authorities and US media said.
Kathryn Garcia, general manager of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, said the Air Canada Express CRJ-900 aircraft, operated by regional partner Jazz Aviation, was carrying 72 passengers and four crew members from Montreal, Canada. Jazz is owned by Chorus Aviation.
According to aviation tracker Flight Radar 24, flight AC8646 took off from Montreal and landed at LaGuardia at 11.37pm US time (14.37am AEDT). The plane was traveling at approximately 39 km/h when it hit the fire truck crossing the runway.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said 32 of the 41 injured people were released, while nine remained in the hospital with “serious injuries.”
The fire truck was traveling on runway four to respond to a separate incident on a United Airlines plane whose pilot reported “an odor-related problem,” Garcia said, deferring to the NTSB additional questions about the sequence of events that led to the crash.
Minutes earlier, air traffic control (ATC) audio from LiveATC.net had stated that the United Airlines flight had declared an emergency due to an odor on board. Controllers informed the crew that fire trucks were already in the area.
A second transmission later indicates that a fire engine was allowed to pass on runway four ‘Delta’ taxiway where the collision occurred.
Moments later, according to ATC audio, a controller can be heard saying: “Stop, stop, stop, truck one stop, truck one, stop.”
Two Port Authority employees traveling in the fire truck suffered injuries that were not considered life-threatening.
The airport would remain closed until at least 2 p.m. (New York time) Monday to facilitate an investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board.
Photos and videos from the scene showed significant damage to the front of the plane, with cables and debris dangling from the crushed cockpit. A damaged emergency vehicle was lying on its side nearby. Stairs used to evacuate passengers from the plane were pushed up to the emergency exits of the Bombardier CRJ jet. The jet’s wrinkled nose tilted upwards due to the impact.
At a news conference, Garcia said the pilot and co-pilot were located outside Canada.
While two unnamed passengers told the local media about the shock of the accident on the late night flight, one of them said that his friend’s nose was broken and the passengers hit their heads on the seat in front of them.
According to CNN, LaGuardia warned in advance that flights could be disrupted due to weather conditions, with light rain and fog in the area.
The US Federal Aviation Administration said the airport was expected to remain closed until 2pm New York time. Flightradar24 said 18 flights were mostly diverted to other airports in the New York area or returned to their point of origin.
Air Canada said it was aware of the incident, referring Reuters to Jazz’s statement. The National Transportation Safety Board and the FAA did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The incident continues a series of crashes that have made the past year one of the deadliest civil aviation accidents of the last decade. In November, a UPS cargo jet crashed and exploded shortly after takeoff from Louisville, Kentucky.
In June, the crash of an Air India Boeing 787 just seconds after takeoff killed all but one of the 242 people on board. In January 2025, American Airlines Flight 5342 collided with an army helicopter near Washington, becoming one of the deadliest US civil aviation disasters in decades.
According to a 2025 FAA database, LaGuardia was the 19th busiest in 2024 among more than 500 U.S. airports, handling more than 16.7 million passengers.
AP, Reuters, Bloomberg
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