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

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 fire truck was crossing the tarmac after being given permission to respond to another plane reporting an odor onboard. Before the collision, an air traffic controller can be heard on airport communications frantically telling the fire truck to stop.

 

In a transmission nearly 20 minutes later, the controller appears to blame himself. “We were dealing with an emergency earlier,” the controller said. “I messed up.”

About 40 passengers and crew members on the regional jet were taken to hospitals, some with serious injuries. Most were released by Monday morning, authorities said.

The impact crushed the regional jet’s nose, leaving cables and debris dangling from the mangled cockpit. Images from the crash site showed the damaged fire truck flipped onto its side.

A key question for investigators will be examining coordination of the airport’s air traffic and ground traffic at the time of the crash, said Mary Schiavo, a former Department of Transportation Inspector General. “I don’t know how many wake-up calls the (Federal Aviation Administration) needs, but this has been happening for years and sadly some of the most horrific air crashes in history happen on the ground at the airport.”

The crash shut down LaGuardia — the New York region’s third busiest hub — until at least Monday afternoon, during what was already a messy time at U.S. airports. Travelers have been facing long security lines due to a government shutdown and the busy spring break travel season.

Pilot and copilot were based out of Canada

The pilot and copilot who died were both based out of Canada, said Kathryn Garcia, executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the airport.

The airport will remain closed until at least early Monday afternoon during the investigation, which is being led by the National Transportation Safety Board.

“Our thoughts are with the victims, their families, and everyone affected,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul posted online.

President Donald Trump called it a “terrible” situation. “They made a mistake,” he told reporters. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said in a statement the accident was “deeply saddening.”

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.

Two Port Authority employees in the fire truck suffered injuries that were not believed to be life-threatening, Garcia said.

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 Montreal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport.

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.

Air traffic controller tried to stop vehicle after giving clearance

The air traffic controller tried to warn the vehicle.

“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.

The FAA has been chronically short on air traffic controllers for years with some of most recent estimates showing that at least 3,000 additional controllers are needed. But former FAA air traffic control chief Mike McCormick said that LaGuardia is “not a control tower that has perennial staffing problems.”

But at the time this crash happened, the tower would have been lightly staffed during the overnight shift, he said. Investigators will also look at how much overtime and how many days in a row the controllers had been working to determine if fatigue could have been a factor.

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 and its aftermath.

They were soon told there had been an accident and that the airport was closing, he said later Monday, gazing at a departure board filled with cancellations.

“I don’t think we’re going at two,” he said, referring to the time that officials gave as the earliest for reopening LaGuardia.

One of the nation’s busiest airports

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.

LaGuardia is one of 35 major airports across the country equipped with an advanced surface surveillance system that uses radar and data from locator systems on planes to alert controllers to potential conflicts on runways, according to the FAA.

There are three different models of Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting trucks, according to a video put out last month about the unit by the Port Authority. One carries 1,500 gallons (5,678 liters) of water and firefighting chemicals. Two others carry 3,000 gallons (11,356 liters) of water. One of those models is also equipped with a turret that can extend 65 feet (20 meters) to penetrate inside an aircraft and discharge firefighting chemicals.

It’s still too early to tell what went wrong, and investigators from the NTSB will now start collecting facts, interviewing people, downloading recordings and reviewing data from flight recorders, aviation safety expert Jeff Guzzetti said.

“It might be easy enough just to say, ‘Oh, the controller made a mistake.’ But there’s got to be deeper questions,” he said.

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