Pilots Killed in Jet, Firetruck Crash  03/23 06:15

   

   NEW YORK (AP) -- Two people were killed and several others badly hurt when 
an Air Canada regional jet struck a fire truck on a runway while landing at New 
York's LaGuardia Airport, officials said.

   The pilot and copilot were killed in the late Sunday night collision, which 
crushed the nose of the aircraft, while around 40 passengers and crew members 
were taken to area hospitals, some with serious injuries. Most have since been 
released from treatment, authorities said Monday.

   Two Port Authority employees who were traveling in the fire truck also 
suffered injuries that were not believed to be life-threatening, said Kathryn 
Garcia, executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, 
which operates the airport.

   The pilot and copilot were both based out of Canada, Garcia said during a 
news conference.

   The airport will remain closed until at least 2 p.m. Monday to facilitate 
the investigation, which is being led by the National Transportation Safety 
Board.

   The fire truck was traveling across the runway to respond to a separate 
incident aboard a United Airlines flight, whose pilot had reported "an issue 
with odor," said Garcia, who deferred additional questions about the sequence 
of events leading up to the crash to the NTSB.

   There were 72 passengers and four crew members aboard the aircraft, a Jazz 
Aviation flight operating on behalf of Air Canada, according to a statement 
from the airline. The flight originated at Montral-Pierre Elliott Trudeau 
International Airport, the major airport serving Montreal.

   Photos and videos from the scene showed severe damage to the front of the 
aircraft, with cables and debris hanging from a mangled cockpit. Nearby, a 
damaged emergency vehicle lay on its side.

   Stairways used to evacuate passengers from the aircraft were pushed up to 
the emergency exits on the jet, a Bombardier CRJ. The impact left the jet with 
its crumpled nose tilted upward.

   In the moments before the crash, an air traffic controller could be heard on 
a radio transmission giving clearance to a vehicle to cross part of the tarmac, 
then trying to stop it.

   "Stop, Truck 1. Stop," the transmission says. The controller can then be 
heard frantically diverting an incoming aircraft from landing.

   Air traffic controllers are not impacted by the partial government shutdown 
that has caused long delays at airport security checkpoints in recent days. 
They have been affected by past shutdowns.

   As passengers straggled out of the airport into the dark early Monday, some 
described having arrived at LaGuardia hours before their flight, hoping to beat 
the lines.

   Arturo Davidson said his Miami-bound flight was on the tarmac Sunday night 
when fellow passengers saw the collision or its aftermath and reactions rippled 
through the cabin.

   The passengers were soon told there had been an accident. About 20 minutes 
later, they were informed the airport was closing and they must return to the 
terminal, he said later Monday, gazing at a departure board filled with 
cancellations.

   "I don't think we're going at two," he sighed, referring to the time Monday 
afternoon that officials gave as the earliest for reopening LaGuardia.

   LaGuardia was 19th busiest in 2024 out of more than 500 U.S. airports, with 
over 16.7 million passengers boarding there, according to a 2025 FAA database.

   The airport, which opened to commercial traffic in 1939, covers 680 acres 
(275 hectares) and borders Flushing and Bowery bays in Queens. The Port 
Authority of New York and New Jersey describes it as "one of the nation's 
leading domestic gateways for business and leisure travel" in its 2024 Airport 
Traffic Report.