Two pilots died after an Air Canada Express regional jet struck a fire truck at New York’s LaGuardia Airport.
The plane had 72 passengers and four crew members.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) deployed a team early this morning to investigate the accident.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy wrote on X this morning:
-Last night, an Air Canada Express CRJ-900 operating from Montreal (YUL) and a Port Authority fire truck at LaGuardia Airport (LGA) collided at about 11:45 p.m. ET.-Of the 72 Air Canada Express passengers and 4 crew members, over a dozen are injured. Tragically, both pilots of the aircraft have passed away. At least 2 Port Authority firefighters sustained serious injuries.-LaGuardia remains closed until 2pm while the NTSB investigates the accident site.
According to The New York Post, the truck received clearance to cross Runway 4 before the air traffic controllers told a Frontier plane and the truck to stop:
“Stop, stop, stop, stop,” the controller frantically demanded. “Truck 1, stop, stop, stop. Stop, Truck 1. Stop.”The controller ordered Delta Flight 2603, en route from Detroit, to go around before turning back to the Air Canada plane — a Jazz Aviation operated flight that touched down from Montreal.“Jazz 646, I see you collided with the vehicle. Just hold position. I know you can’t move. Vehicles are responding to you now,” the air traffic controller said.
After the crash, the air traffic controller asked the Frontier pilots if they’d like to return to the ramp.
It’s heartbreaking:
“We got stuff in progress for that, man, that wasn’t good to watch,” Frontier pilots said.“Yeah, I tried to reach out to ‘em … And we were dealing with an emergency and I messed up,” the controller replied.“No, you did the best you could,” Frontier crews said, trying to reassure the air traffic controller.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY