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Two pilots were killed and dozens of people injured after an Air Canada plane collided with a fire truck on a runway at New York’s LaGuardia airport, US authorities said Monday.
The crash late Sunday halted flights at LaGuardia, a major transport hub, with the Bombardier jet left tilted back onto its tail, its cockpit smashed, next to the damaged emergency vehicle.
US aviation investigators, assisted by Canadian counterparts, opened a probe into what appeared to be LaGuardia’s first fatal accident since 1992.
An audio recording from the air traffic tower showed that a controller had cleared the truck, which was responding to a separate incident, to cross the runway before urgently ordering it to halt.
“Stop, truck one, stop!” the controller said moments before the collision. An alarm was then heard.
Surveillance footage shared by US media captured the moment the plane smashed into the rescue vehicle as it crossed its path, sending both hurtling down the runway.
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The pilot and co-pilot were killed in the crash, officials said.
“These were two young men at the start of their career, so it’s an absolute tragedy that we’re sitting here with their loss,” Bryan Bedford, head of the Federal Aviation Administration, told reporters.
More than 40 other people were taken to the hospital, but many were discharged by Monday afternoon, said Kathryn Garcia, head of the city’s Port Authority.
She added that the two men in the damaged fire truck were expected to recover.
The plane was operated by Jazz Aviation, a regional partner of Air Canada, which said the CRJ-900 aircraft flew into LaGuardia from Montreal as Flight 8646.
A preliminary passenger list showed 76 people on board the flight, including four crew members, Jazz Aviation said in a statement.
Jack Cabot, a passenger on the flight, recalled a chaotic scene as the plane “immediately hit something” after a hard landing.
“Everyone was hunkered down, everyone was screaming, we didn’t have any directions because the pilots’ cabin was destroyed,” he told US media.
“So someone said ‘let’s get the emergency exit, let’s get the door and all jump out’ and that’s exactly what we did.”
US President Donald Trump described the crash as “terrible,” telling reporters, “They made a mistake. It’s a dangerous business.”
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said the fatal incident was “deeply saddening.”
“Canadian officials are working closely with their US counterparts on the ground as the investigation continues. My thoughts are with the victims, their families, and all those impacted,” he wrote on X.
Transport Secretary Sean Duffy told reporters that LaGuardia is a “very well staffed airport” — addressing what he called a “rumor” there was only one controller in the tower late Sunday.
Air traffic controller shortages are a problem across the United States and the government has ramped up its hiring efforts in response.
As hundreds of flights were canceled due to the crash, AFP journalists saw travelers at LaGuardia laying down in a terminal Monday.
Located in the borough of Queens, LaGuardia is the third-busiest airport serving New York, handling 33.5 million passengers in 2024, according to port authority figures.
It completed an $8 billion redevelopment in 2024, upgrading its aging infrastructure with new terminals and roadways.
Deadly air crashes in the United States in recent years include a collision between a passenger jet and an army helicopter near Washington in January 2025 that killed 67 people.
A private jet carrying the head of Libya’s armed forces requested emergency landing because of electrical failure before it crashed Tuesday, a senior Turkish official said.
“A private jet carrying Libyan Chief of General Staff Mohammed al-Haddad, four members of his entourage and three crew members reported an emergency to the air traffic control centre due to an electrical failure, asking for an emergency landing,” Burhanettin Duran, head of the presidency’s communications directorate, said on X.
All 20 personnel on board the Turkish military cargo plane en route from Azerbaijan to Turkey that crashed in Georgia on Tuesday were killed, according to the country’s defence minister Yasar Guler.
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The C-130 plane crashed in the eastern Georgian municipality of Sighnaghi, close to the border with Azerbaijan, shortly after taking off from Ganja. Authorities are still investigating the cause of the crash.
A Turkish accident investigation team reached the crash site and was inspecting the wreckage of the plane, in coordination with Georgian authorities, a source at the Turkish defence ministry said.
Georgia’s Interior Minister Gela Geladze said authorities have so far recovered the remains of 18 victims, adding that efforts were continuing to locate the other two.
Geladze also said that further details in connection with the accident will be revealed “in stages.” The interior minister said due to military sensitivities and in coordination with Ankara and its demands, information in an ongoing investigation cannot be promptly released.
The wreckage of the aircraft was spread across a plain that includes farmland and is surrounded by hills. Debris was scattered across multiple locations, according to Turkish media outlets who were reporting from the site.
On Tuesday, a Turkish state-run agency quoted the Georgian aviation authority saying that contact with the plane was lost a few minutes after it entered Georgian airspace. The plane had not issued a distress signal, it said.
C-130 military cargo planes are widely used by Turkey’s armed forces for transporting personnel and handling logistical operations. Military flights between Azerbaijan and Turkey are routine, as the two countries have close ties and military cooperation.
