NEW YORK\u00a0\u2014\u00a0An Air Canada jet carrying more than 70 passengers collided with a fire truck while landing at New York\u2019s LaGuardia Airport late Sunday, killing the pilot and copilot and injuring several others, officials said.<\/p>\n
The fire truck was crossing the tarmac after an air traffic controller gave it 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.<\/p>\n
In a transmission nearly 20 minutes later, the controller appears to blame himself. \u201cWe were dealing with an emergency earlier,\u201d the controller said. \u201cI messed up.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The impact crushed the regional jet\u2019s nose, leaving cables and debris dangling from the mangled cockpit. Images from the crash site showed the damaged fire truck flipped onto its side.<\/p>\n
The crash shut down LaGuardia \u2014 the New York region\u2019s third busiest hub \u2014 during what was already a messy time at U.S. airports<\/a>. Travelers have been facing long security lines due to a government shutdown and the busy spring break travel season.<\/p>\n Air traffic at LaGuardia was being diverted to New Jersey\u2019s Newark Liberty International Airport. Its operations were halted<\/a> briefly Monday morning after air traffic controllers there evacuated the tower because of a burning smell, the Federal Aviation Administration said.<\/p>\n Pilot and copilot were based out of Canada<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n The airport will remain closed until at least early Monday afternoon during the investigation, which is being led by the National Transportation Safety Board.<\/p>\n \u201cOur thoughts are with the victims, their families, and everyone affected,\u201d New York Gov. Kathy Hochul posted online.<\/p>\n The fire truck was traveling across the runway to respond to a separate incident aboard a United Airlines flight, whose pilot had reported \u201can issue with odor,\u201d said Garcia, who deferred additional questions about the sequence of events leading up to the crash to the NTSB.<\/p>\n Two Port Authority employees in the fire truck suffered injuries that were not believed to be life-threatening, Garcia said.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Air traffic controller tried to stop vehicle after giving clearance<\/p>\n The air traffic controller tried to warn the vehicle.<\/p>\n \u201cStop, Truck 1. Stop,\u201d the transmission says. The controller can then be heard frantically diverting an incoming aircraft from landing.<\/p>\n Air traffic controllers are not impacted by the partial government shutdown that has caused long delays at airport security checkpoints<\/a> in recent days. They have been affected by past shutdowns.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Arturo Davidson said his Miami-bound flight was on the tarmac Sunday night when fellow passengers saw the collision and its aftermath.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think we\u2019re going at two,\u201d he said, referring to the time that officials gave as the earliest for reopening LaGuardia.<\/p>\n One of the nation\u2019s busiest airports<\/p>\n 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<\/a>.<\/p>\n