Pilot and copilot killed in collision between jet and fire truck at New
York's LaGuardia Airport
[March 23, 2026]
By JAKE OFFENHARTZ and JENNIFER PELTZ
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 late Sunday night, officials
said.
The pilot and copilot were killed in the collision, which crushed the
nose of the aircraft, while 39 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 early Monday.
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 Montréal-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.
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An Air Canada Jet sits on the runway at LaGuardia Airport, Monday,
March 23, 2026, after colliding with a Port Authority aircraft
rescue and firefighting vehicle in New York. (AP Photo/Ryan Murphy)
“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.
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