Two pilots were killed and dozens of passengers were injured when an Air Canada Express flight landing at LaGuardia Airport collided with a Port Authority fire truck on an active runway.
The crash occurred just seconds after a controller in the air traffic control tower realized a disaster was imminent.
"Stop, stop, stop! Truck 1, stop!" the controller shouted, according to audio of the exchange.
The command came too late to prevent the Montreal-based CRJ-900 jet from slamming into the emergency vehicle on Runway 4 at approximately 11:40 p.m. The fire truck, identified as "Truck 1," had been cleared to cross the tarmac while responding to a separate emergency involving a United Airlines flight.
Experts are calling the collision a catastrophic and avoidable failure of airport safety. According to FlightRadar24 data, the aircraft, operated by Air Canada’s regional partner Jazz Aviation, was carrying 76 people and was traveling at roughly 130 mph when it struck the vehicle. One controller on the recording reportedly admitted they “messed up.”
The tragedy adds to a period of intense strain at major U.S. hubs. Travelers have already been facing mounting delays due to ongoing TSA staffing issues amid an impasse between Republicans and Democrats which has seen airport staff go unpaid for more than a week, with many calling out sick. On Monday President Donald Trump deployed ICE agents to 13 locations, although their exact role was unclear.
The fire truck was crossing the tarmac to assist a United Airlines flight that had aborted its takeoff due to an odor in the cockpit, CBS News reported. Flight attendants on board reported feeling unwell due to the smell.
Passengers on the Air Canada flight that crashed described the "chaos" as the aircraft veered out of control on the runway.
“It was a regular flight like always,” passenger Jack Cabot told Fox News. “As we were arriving, we came down really hard. We stopped really quickly, 2 seconds later, we had an absolute slam.”
Cabot recalled the moments following the impact, which left the front of the jet obliterated. “Everybody was flying everywhere,” he told Fox News. “The plane veering off left and right. It was chaos. It didn’t feel like there was anybody controlling it.”
Survivors are suggesting the pilots who died may have saved countless other lives by putting the aircraft into reverse thrust at the last second.
“We had just touched down, and maybe about 30 seconds later we all felt a jolt forward, then a loud bang, and what felt like sliding sideways down the runway,” passenger Brady Sego wrote on Reddit. “Someone did say the pilot tried to reverse thrust at the last second. Honestly, they likely saved our lives.
“I wish I could tell their families how thankful I am. They are heroes.”
Neither of the pilots had yet been publicly identified.
Another passenger, Rebecca Liquori, told News12 Long Island that, after the plane touched down, she felt it brake hard and heard a loud boom.
"Everybody just jolted out of their seats,” Liquori told News 12, a station where she formerly worked. “People hit their heads. People were bleeding.”
Liquori had visited Montreal to attend a cousin’s baby shower. She said she had helped open the emergency exit door during the flight, recalling passengers helping each other slide down a wing to get out.
"I'm just happy to be alive," she said. "I would have never pictured a one-hour flight that I've done countless times ending like this."
Footage from the Citizen App showed significant damage to the aircraft’s nose, which remained tilted upward as emergency crews worked the scene in the heavy rain. At least 40 people, including two Port Authority officers, were rushed to local hospitals. While the cockpit was devastated, reports indicate a female flight attendant survived after being ejected through the front of the plane.
The incident, which shuttered one of the nation’s busiest airports until at least Monday afternoon, is now the subject of a major federal investigation.
For those on following flights, the tragedy manifested as a sudden, vague "incident." One passenger on Air Canada Flight 724, which was scheduled to land at 12:03 a.m. directly following the crash, described the confusion in the air.
"The announcement came on saying, you know, we're beginning our descent. And then the captain came on and said there was an incident in LaGuardia," the passenger told The Independent. "I was very afraid that there had been some kind of terror incident. … It just felt like anything was possible, even if it's not a major incident, it just felt like it could have been something dark."
As the flight turned around to return to Toronto, passengers used spotty Wi-Fi to piece together what had happened.
"The crew came on and said, ‘as some of you know, there was an Air Canada flight involved in a collision,’” the passenger recalled. "By then we could see some of the early reports, not from any reputable news source, but there were already tweets saying that two people had died. And that photo.
“The photo was horrible. It was really just sad."
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has deployed a "Go Team" to lead the investigation. The exact cause of the crash remains under investigation.
Abe Bohrer, a New York-based attorney specializing in airline cases, noted the complexity of the multi-agency probe involving the NTSB, the FAA and the Port Authority.
"You listen to this audio, it seems as if you've got an overworked, over-committed controller and an understaffed tower that seems to be managing another emergency at the same time," Bohrer told The Independent.
Bohrer emphasized that even emergency vehicles have a duty of care.
"How does this fire truck cross an active runway, even if it's cleared to do so, without taking that extra second to make sure that the runway is clear?" he asked. "A driver of a motor vehicle is charged with the obligation to see what is there to be seen. And obviously, a large commercial jet ... with its bright landing lights and flashing strobes on, would most likely have been able to be seen."
Two Port Authority police officers, one of them a sergeant and an officer, were taken to hospitals to receive treatment for broken bones, NBC New York reported. Both are in stable condition.
The incident has drawn international attention. During a press conference this morning, President Donald Trump commented, "Terrible. They made a mistake. It's a dangerous business. That's terrible."
In Canada, Prime Minister Mark Carney stated via social media that the collision was "deeply saddening,” adding that "Canadian officials are working closely with their U.S. counterparts on the ground as the investigation continues."
LaGuardia remains closed until at least 2 p.m. Monday, with more than 400 flights canceled.
"I just feel lucky, like, super fortunate," the passenger from the following flight told The Independent. "You sort of feel inconvenienced, and then you're like, 'Why do I even — who cares?' Two people lost their lives."
