An Air Canada Express jet collided with a fire truck while landing at New York’s LaGuardia Airport late Sunday, killing two pilots, injuring dozens and shutting down the facility, authorities said.
Jazz Aviation, a unit of Chorus Aviation, said the Air Canada Express CRJ-900 aircraft, operated by its regional partner Jazz Aviation, had taken off from Montreal with 72 passengers and four crew members on board. The Jazz and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey confirmed that the pilot and co-pilot were killed.
The crash comes as the U.S. aviation industry faces a chronic shortage of air traffic controllers and Transportation Security Administration officers as the partial government shutdown causes delays, long security lines and heightened safety concerns at airports across the country.
“Today is an extremely difficult day for our airline, our employees and especially the families and loved ones of those affected by Flight 8646,” said Doug Clarke, president of Jazz Aviation.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said at least two Port Authority firefighters were seriously injured.
Nine people were hospitalized with serious injuries
Kathryn Garcia, executive director of the Port Authority, said 32 of the 41 injured have been discharged from hospitals, while nine others remain hospitalized with “serious injuries.”
Aviation safety experts said investigators will look into air traffic control staffing levels, the movements of controllers and truck crews that night and the location of the trucks.
“The Air Canada plane was clearly cleared to land, and from radio transmissions it appears the airport rescue and firefighting trucks were cleared to land. There are a lot of questions now about communications,” said Anthony Brickhouse, a U.S. safety expert. “Communication is going to be a major part of this investigation.”
U.S. airports have been grappling with a shortage of air traffic controllers for years, and a shortage of Transportation Security Administration officers due to the partial government shutdown has affected passengers across the country, further testing a strained system.
Fire trucks allowed to cross runway
Garcia said fire trucks were working on another United Airlines UAL.O plane that “reported an odor issue.”
Minutes earlier, air traffic control audio from LiveATC.net showed a United Airlines flight declaring an emergency due to an odor on board. The controller told the crew that fire engines were on scene.
A second transmission showed that a fire truck was cleared to cross runway 4 on taxiway “Delta”, where the collision occurred.
Shortly after, the controller can be heard saying: “Stop, stop, stop, Truck 1 stop, Truck 1, stop,” according to ATC audio.
The plane struck the fire truck at about 24 miles per hour (39 kilometers per hour), according to flight tracking website Flightradar24, which last recorded data at 11:37 p.m. ET (0337 GMT).
Photos taken by Reuters after the accident showed obvious damage to the nose of the plane, which tilted upward.
Two passengers who spoke on condition of anonymity spoke to ABC affiliate WABC about the shock of the late-night flight incident, with one describing a friend who suffered a broken nose after hitting his head on the seat in front of them.
Air Canada referred Jazz’s statement to Reuters and said it was aware of the incident. The Jazz earlier acknowledged the collision and said it would provide further details when possible.
Global aerospace companies are taking the lead in providing all-risk coverage for Air Canada’s damaged regional jet, three senior aviation market sources said.
Marsh is the cover’s agent, the three sources said. One of the sources said the plane’s insured airframe was worth about $10 million.
Flight canceled, expected delay
The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said it was deploying a team of experts to investigate the incident, while the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it expected the airport to remain closed until 2pm ET (1800GMT) on Monday.
One of New York’s busiest airports closed will A weeks-long partial government shutdown has disrupted travel. Absenteeism among transportation security personnel has soared, causing long lines of passengers at major U.S. airports.
Some 546 flights have been canceled at the airport so far Monday, according to tracking website FlightAware.
According to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, LaGuardia Airport will handle more than 30 million passengers annually by 2025, and many U.S. airlines operate from the airport.
Recent events add to pressure
According to the FAA, there were 97 runway incursions in January, compared with 133 in the same period last year.
A bipartisan group of U.S. House lawmakers last month proposed legislation to address 50 aviation safety recommendations issued after a year-long investigation into the January 2025 collision of an American Airlines AAL.O regional jet and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter that killed 67 people.
final Year A UPS cargo plane crashed shortly after takeoff in Louisville, Kentucky, killing seven people on the ground and injuring 11 others.
Canadian Transport Minister Steve MacKinnon said the Canadian government is working closely with U.S. authorities to “investigate this incident and we are closely monitoring the situation as it develops.”
(Reporting by Gursimran Kaur, Shubham Kalia, Abu Sultan, Preetika Parashuraman and Ruchika Khanna in Bengaluru, Bingguan in New York, Allison Lampert in Montreal and David Shepardson in Washington; Additional reporting by Joanna Plucinska and Susan Heavey; Editing by Jamie Freed and Joe Bavier)
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