Fatal crash on New York airport runway claims lives of two pilots

A devastating collision between an Air Canada plane and a fire truck on a LaGuardia airport runway late Sunday resulted in the deaths of two pilots and injured dozens of people, according to US authorities, who announced the incident on Monday.

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The crash, which occurred at New York’s LaGuardia airport, brought flights to a standstill, with the Bombardier jet sustaining significant damage, its cockpit smashed, and the emergency vehicle also severely damaged, by the time the airport resumed flights by 2:00 pm (1800 GMT) Monday.

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As the airport resumed operations, travellers were warned to expect delays and cancellations, while US aviation investigators, aided by their Canadian counterparts, launched a probe into the incident, which appears to be the first fatal accident at LaGuardia since 1992.

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An audio recording from the air traffic tower revealed that a controller had given the truck, which was responding to a separate incident, clearance to cross the runway, before urgently ordering it to stop, saying "Stop, truck one, stop!" moments before the collision.

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The controller's warning was followed by an alarm, and surveillance footage captured the moment the plane smashed into the rescue vehicle, sending both careening down the runway, in a incident that killed the pilot and co-pilot, according to officials.

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Bryan Bedford, head of the Federal Aviation Administration, described the loss of the two young pilots as "an absolute tragedy", saying "These were two young men at the start of their career, so it’s an absolute tragedy that we’re sitting here with their loss".

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More than 40 people were hospitalized, but many were discharged by Monday afternoon, according to Kathryn Garcia, head of the city’s Port Authority, who added that the two men in the damaged fire truck were expected to recover from their injuries.

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The plane, a CRJ-900 aircraft operated by Jazz Aviation, a regional partner of Air Canada, was flying from Montreal as Flight 8646, with a preliminary passenger list showing 76 people on board, including four crew members, according to Jazz Aviation.

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A passenger on the flight, Jack Cabot, recalled a chaotic scene after the plane "immediately hit something" following a hard landing, saying "Everyone was hunkered down, everyone was screaming, we didn’t have any directions because the pilots’ cabin was destroyed".

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Cabot described how passengers took matters into their own hands, saying "So someone said ‘let’s get the emergency exit, let’s get the door and all jump out’ and that’s exactly what we did", in the aftermath of the crash.

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US President Donald Trump described the crash as "terrible", saying "They made a mistake, it’s a dangerous business", while Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said the fatal incident was "deeply saddening".

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Prime Minister Carney added that "Canadian officials are working closely with their US counterparts on the ground as the investigation continues", and expressed his thoughts with the victims, their families, and all those impacted, in a statement on X.

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Transport Secretary Sean Duffy addressed a "rumour" that there was only one controller in the tower late Sunday, saying LaGuardia is a "very well-staffed airport", as the government faces issues with air traffic controller shortages across the United States.

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The crash resulted in hundreds of flights being cancelled, with AFP journalists seeing travellers lying down in a terminal at LaGuardia on Monday, as the airport struggled to cope with the aftermath of the incident.

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LaGuardia, located in the borough of Queens, is the third-busiest airport serving New York, having handled 33.5 million passengers in 2024, according to Port Authority figures, and completed an $8 billion redevelopment in 2024, upgrading its ageing infrastructure.

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The United States has experienced several deadly air crashes in recent years, including a collision between a passenger jet and an army helicopter near Washington in January 2025, which killed 67 people, according to reports.