2 pilots killed when jet collides with fire truck at New York's LaGuardia Airport

NEW YORK (AP) — An Air Canada pitchy carrying much than 70 passengers collided with a occurrence motortruck portion landing astatine New York’s LaGuardia Airport precocious Sunday, sidesplitting the aviator and copilot and injuring respective others, officials said.

The interaction severed the cockpit, and hurled a formation attendant — inactive secured to her spot — acold from the tract of the crash, her girl told a Canadian TV station. The formation attendant survived.

The occurrence motortruck was crossing the tarmac conscionable earlier midnight aft being fixed support to cheque connected different level reporting an odor onboard. Before the collision, an aerial postulation controller tin beryllium heard connected airdrome communications frantically telling the occurrence motortruck to stop.

Roughly 20 minutes later, the controller appears to blasted himself. “We were dealing with an exigency earlier,” the controller said. “I messed up.”

About 40 passengers and unit members connected the determination pitchy from Montreal, and 2 radical from the occurrence truck, were taken to hospitals, immoderate with superior injuries. Most were released by Monday morning, authorities said.

A cardinal for investigators volition beryllium examining coordination of the airport’s aerial postulation and crushed postulation astatine the clip of the crash, said Mary Schiavo, a erstwhile Department of Transportation Inspector General. “I don’t cognize however galore wake-up calls the (Federal Aviation Administration) needs, but this has been happening for years and sadly immoderate of the astir horrific aerial crashes successful past hap connected the crushed astatine the airport.”

The clang unopen down LaGuardia — the New York region’s 3rd busiest hub — during what was already a messy clip astatine U.S. airports due to the fact that of a partial authorities shutdown.

Flights resumed Monday day with conscionable 1 of 2 runways unfastened and lengthy delays. The shutdown was causing immoderate disruptions astatine different airports, too, particularly for Delta, which has a large beingness astatine LaGuardia.

Passenger says they helped each different flight the plane

The collision near cables and debris dangling from the mangled cockpit. Images showed the occurrence motortruck flipped onto its side, with astir of the harm to its backmost half.

Flight attendant Solange Tremblay suffered aggregate fractures to 1 limb and volition request country aft being thrown from the plane, girl Sarah Lépine told Canadian quality presumption TVA Nouvelles.

Her endurance is “a full miracle,” Lépine said. “I’m inactive trying to recognize however each this happened, but she decidedly has a guardian angel watching implicit her,” Lépine told the station.

Passenger Rebecca Liquori said the level deed turbulence portion descending, and she past felt it brake hard and heard a large boom.

“Everybody conscionable jolted retired of their seats. People deed their heads. People were bleeding,” Liquori told News12 Long Island, a presumption wherever she erstwhile worked.

Liquori, who said she helped unfastened the exigency exit door, recalled passengers helping each different descent down a helping to get out.

“I’m conscionable blessed to beryllium alive,” said Liquori, who had gone to Montreal for a cousin’s babe shower. “I would person ne'er pictured a one-hour formation that I’ve done countless times … ending similar this.”

U.S. and Canada sending investigators to New York

The aviator and copilot who died were some based retired of Canada, said Kathryn Garcia, enforcement manager of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the airport.

The airdrome volition stay closed until astatine slightest aboriginal Monday day during the investigation, which is being led by the National Transportation Safety Board. Canada besides sent a squad of investigators.

President Donald Trump called it a “terrible” situation. “They made a mistake,” helium told reporters. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said successful a connection the mishap was “deeply saddening.”

The occurrence motortruck was traveling crossed the runway to respond to a United Airlines flight, whose aviator had reported “an contented with odor,” said Garcia.

Two Port Authority employees successful the occurrence motortruck suffered injuries that were not believed to beryllium life-threatening, Garcia said.

There were 72 passengers and 4 unit members aboard the Jazz Aviation formation operating connected behalf of Air Canada, according to the airline. The formation originated astatine Montreal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport.

Hours aft the crash, the level remained connected the runway with its crumpled chemoreceptor tilted upward.

LaGuardia has a strategy to spot runway encounters

The aerial postulation controller tried to pass the occurrence truck.

“Stop, stop, stop, Truck 1. Stop, stop, stop,” the transmission says. “Stop, Truck 1.” The controller tin past beryllium heard frantically diverting an incoming craft from landing.

Air postulation controllers are not impacted by the partial authorities shutdown that has caused agelong delays astatine airdrome information checkpoints successful caller days. They person been affected by past shutdowns.

The FAA has been chronically abbreviated connected aerial postulation controllers for years. But erstwhile FAA aerial postulation power main Mike McCormick said that LaGuardia is “not a power operation that has perennial staffing problems.”

At the clip of this crash, however, the operation would person been lightly staffed during the overnight shift, helium said.

LaGuardia is 1 of 35 large U.S. airports with an precocious aboveground surveillance strategy designed to assistance support way of planes and vehicles crossing the airport.

An alarm heard successful the inheritance of the aerial postulation power audio was apt from the strategy and would person prompted each eyes successful the operation to look for the imaginable collision, McCormick said.

“It’s an assistance successful a concern similar this,” helium said, but the strategy doesn’t cognize if idiosyncratic has fixed clearance for a conveyance to transverse a runway.

FAA statistic amusement determination were 1,636 runway incursions past year.

LaGuardia was the 19th busiest U.S. airdrome successful 2024, with implicit 16.7 cardinal passengers boarding there, according to a 2025 FAA database.

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The communicative has been updated to close that the Port Authority video connected trucks was enactment retired past year, not past month.

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Associated Press reporters Michael R. Sisak, Anthony Izaguirre and Mae Anderson successful New York; Rob Gillies successful Toronto; Josh Funk successful Omaha, Nebraska; and Kathy McCormack successful Concord, New Hampshire, contributed.

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