Two pilots flying Air Canada jet killed in crash at LaGuardia Airport - 22 Mar 2026

[McG]

Not good news.
Two pilots flying Air Canada jet killed in crash at LaGuardia Airport

Error by air traffic control let a fire truck onto runway.

 

[dapaterson]

Followed by smoke in the tower at EWR, throwing all of NYC air travel into chaos.

 

[NavyShooter]

Reached out to a buddy of mine that's a pilot with Porter - he doesn't know who it is yet, but it's a sad situation.

 

[PrairieFella]

The recordings from ATC are chilling. You can hear the moment he realizes the mistake and tries his damndest to call off the truck. Sad for all involved. The main takeaway should be that one person was responsible for all ground and air movements at Laguardia. That is insane.

 

[brihard]

The recordings from ATC are chilling. You can hear the moment he realizes the mistake and tries his damndest to call off the truck. Sad for all involved. The main takeaway should be that one person was responsible for all ground and air movements at Laguardia. That is insane.

It’s absolutely criminal that one controller was allowed to be working all of that. That poor bastard.

 

[PrairieFella]

It’s absolutely criminal that one controller was allowed to be working all of that. That poor bastard.

You just know theyll throw this poor soul under the bus too.

 

[brihard]

This video purports to show the collision. Looks like someone filming a screen; not the raw video. I can’t verify it’s authentic, but what we can see does appear consistent with photos and videos of what was left such as the truck pushed off the runway on its side, and the respective directions of travel.

The other emergency vehicles all stopped; looks like the first truck didn’t hear the order.

https://twitter.com/x/status/2036120232192823795

 

[lenaitch]

It’s absolutely criminal that one controller was allowed to be working all of that. That poor bastard.

I vaguely recall staffing/workload was an issue at Reagan with the fixed wing -helicopter incident.

This video purports to show the collision. Looks like someone filming a screen; not the raw video. I can’t verify it’s authentic, but what we can see does appear consistent with photos and videos of what was left such as the truck pushed off the runway on its side, and the respective directions of travel.

The other emergency vehicles all stopped; looks like the first truck didn’t hear the order.

https://twitter.com/x/status/2036120232192823795

Poor buggers had about 3 seconds to realize their fate. Not even enough time to try to steer it for the weeds.

 

[Mick]

I vaguely recall staffing/workload was an issue at Reagan with the fixed wing -helicopter incident.


Poor buggers had about 3 seconds to realize their fate. Not even enough time to try to steer it for the weeds.

This poor crew didn't really have any good options - intentionally steering off the runway at over 120 knots likely would have resulted in more fatalities.

All these guys could do would be to apply max braking, and max thrust reverse.

While it's not uncommon to train for runway incursions in the simulator, it's normally to practice low-energy go-arounds, where an aircraft that's fully configured for landing aborts the landing just prior to touch-down - usually due to a vehicle or aircraft entering the runway.

There really isn't a good option if a runway incursion occurs after the aircraft touches down - spoilers are automatically deployed to kill lift, flaps are still in the landing position, and the pilots are applying brakes and utilizing reverse thrust, all while remaining runway is being used up. Taking off again isn't an option.

Turning off into the infield, especially at high speed, would most likely result in the landing gear shearing off, and a potential rolling situation.

Just a terrible situation.

 

[Halifax Tar]

Anyone know what happened to the crew in the crash truck ?

 

[YZT580]

Anyone know what happened to the crew in the crash truck ?

serious but not life-threatening injuries

 

[brihard]

serious but not life-threatening injuries

Amazing that they could survive that. Though I gather that the fully loaded fire truck likely weighed as much as or possibly more than the CRJ at landing weight, which is a bit of a mindf***.

 

[OldSolduer]

Amazing that they could survive that. Though I gather that the fully loaded fire truck likely weighed as much as or possibly more than the CRJ at landing weight, which is a bit of a mindf***.

I agree but aircraft are quite fragile in comparison to big fire trucks.

 

[mariomike]

Probably would have been a lot worse for the firefighters in the open cab / back-step days.

 

[MilEME09]

Its sheer insanity to me that this was the only guy in the tower, and then after the incident he had to wait several hours to be relieved

 

[YZT580]

Its sheer insanity to me that this was the only guy in the tower, and then after the incident he had to wait several hours to be relieved

do you have evidence of this? Last report I read from FAA is that there was more than 1 in the tower at the time. And as for staffing Pearson tower was staffed by a single controller and an assistant for midnight shifts starting about 11 p.m. for decades. In order to get relief they would have had to call someone in so it is no surprise that it would take time to get relief in. Regardless, both CATCA in Canada and NATCA have been fighting this issue for decades trying to increase minimum staff in all units to cover just such eventualities. It has always come down to budget. As for causes, my educated guess regarding principle cause will focus on procedures regarding when Jazz received his landing clearance and the coordination between tower and ground if their were 2 on duty. I have had vehicles enter a runway without clearance but never had a ground controller put a vehicle on the runway with traffic cleared to land.

 

[MilEME09]

do you have evidence of this? Last report I read from FAA is that there was more than 1 in the tower at the time. And as for staffing Pearson tower was staffed by a single controller and an assistant for midnight shifts starting about 11 p.m. for decades. In order to get relief they would have had to call someone in so it is no surprise that it would take time to get relief in. Regardless, both CATCA in Canada and NATCA have been fighting this issue for decades trying to increase minimum staff in all units to cover just such eventualities. It has always come down to budget. As for causes, my educated guess regarding principle cause will focus on procedures regarding when Jazz received his landing clearance and the coordination between tower and ground if their were 2 on duty. I have had vehicles enter a runway without clearance but never had a ground controller put a vehicle on the runway with traffic cleared to land.

Multiple reports say he was alone but one brief statement from the NTSB here say thats in accurate but wont say how many were in the tower but staffing is definitely a concern when normally you have two people controlling ground and air traffic not one.

NTSB probes controller as part of LaGuardia airport collision investigation

Investigators said they wanted to interview an air traffic controller who was juggling another emergency in ‌the run-up to the crash at New York's LaGuardia airport.

www.reuters.com