Two pilots were killed when an Air Canada regional jet collided with a Port Authority fire truck on the runway, according to officials.
Air Canada Flight 8646—a Jazz Aviation regional jet carrying 72 passengers and four crew members from Montreal—was on approach when it hit a Port Authority fire-and-rescue truck crossing the runway. The collision killed both pilots. The nose of the plane was destroyed on impact. The truck ended up on its side.
41 people were taken to hospitals. Thirty-nine were from the aircraft. Two were Port Authority firefighters from the truck.
Port Authority Executive Director Kathryn Garcia confirmed Monday morning that around 32 people had been released, but said there were serious injuries among those still hospitalized.
The Fire Truck Wasn’t There for That Plane
This is the part that’s going to define the investigation.
The rescue vehicle wasn’t responding to the Air Canada flight. It had been sent across the runway to reach a United Airlines aircraft whose pilot had called in an odor issue on board. That’s a routine call. Cross the runway, check the plane, done. Except the Air Canada jet was coming down at the same time.
Air traffic control recordings show the truck was cleared to cross the runway—and then told to stop. What happened between those two instructions, and whether the stop order came in time, or came at all in any usable way, is exactly what the NTSB is now trying to figure out.
Investigators may also be looking at whether the air traffic controller on duty was working the tower alone. Because at that moment—an inbound regional jet, an emergency vehicle in motion, a separate incident on another aircraft — that is a lot of moving pieces for one person to track.
What the Scene Looked Like
Photos from the runway were hard to look at.
The front of the Bombardier CRJ was gone—crumpled, cables hanging loose, nose tilted up off the ground at a wrong angle. The emergency vehicle was on its side nearby. Passenger stairs were pushed up to the emergency exits so people could get off the plane.
The pilot and co-pilot did not survive. They have not yet been publicly identified.
LaGuardia Ground Stop
The airport shut down immediately after the collision. The FAA issued a ground stop through at least 2 p.m. Monday, which meant flights backed up, diversions piled on, and anyone with a Monday morning connection through LaGuardia was already dealing with the fallout by the time they woke up.
For the tri-state area—and for the New Jersey travelers who rely on LaGuardia as a primary option—it was a chaotic start to the week.
The National Transportation Safety Board has taken over the investigation. The Port Authority is deferring to them on the sequencing questions—specifically, the full timeline of what ATC said to that truck crew, when they said it, and what the driver heard.
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