A regional Air Canada flight collided with an airport fire truck on the runway at LaGuardia Airport late Sunday, killing the pilot and copilot and injuring several others, according to officials and investigators. The crash happened at about 11:45 p.m. as the aircraft was landing and as responders moved to deal with an emergency connected to another plane.
Air traffic control audio reviewed by the AP described how United Flight 2384 reported a “weird odor” was affecting flight attendants while the aircraft waited to depart. The pilot declared an emergency and requested to return to a gate and for firefighters to respond, prompting the dispatch of an airport fire truck to the runway. In recordings from the airport control tower, the truck was initially cleared to cross but a controller later tried to pull it back to avoid a collision, while diverting incoming aircraft from landing, and the controller later said in the recording, “I messed up.”
The aircraft involved in the collision was operated by Jazz Aviation for Air Canada and had about 70 passengers and four crew members aboard, according to the AP report. The pilot and copilot were the only confirmed fatalities. Officials had not released the names, but a family member identified one of them as Antoine Forest of Canada.
Hospital officials said about 40 passengers and crew members were taken to area hospitals, with some injuries described as serious. Most of those patients were released by Monday morning, and the AP reported that two emergency responders riding in the fire truck also suffered non-life-threatening injuries—one expected to be released later Monday and the other to spend another night in the hospital, according to Kathryn Garcia, who heads the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs the airport.
The AP report also described the condition of survivors, including a flight attendant who was thrown from the plane while still strapped in her seat. Solange Tremblay suffered multiple fractures to her leg and required surgery, but her daughter said she is “miraculously OK.” Photos and videos from after the crash showed the jet’s nose crushed and tilted upward, with debris hanging from the cockpit, and stairways used to evacuate passengers pushed up to emergency exits.
Investigators said it was too soon to answer many questions about the accident. Jennifer Homendy, chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, said investigators will analyze the plane’s cockpit and flight data recorders, which were recovered from the wreck undamaged. Homendy also said the runway where the crash happened is likely to be closed for days as investigators sift through a “tremendous amount of debris,” and Canada has sent a team to examine the circumstances of the collision.
Weather at the time of the crash included moderate winds of about 7 knots and visibility around 4 miles (6.5 kilometers), with mist and fog conditions, Bryan Bedford, head of the Federal Aviation Administration, told reporters. The AP report said that runway conditions and visibility were part of the context officials were assessing as they moved into the investigation phase.
The airport shut down after the Sunday crash and diverted all air traffic. LaGuardia reopened Monday afternoon with one runway in operation, but with significant delays continuing into the day. New York officials said the crash was the first fatal accident at the airport in more than 30 years, and the AP reported that LaGuardia is the 19th busiest of more than 500 airports in the country, according to the FAA.
The AP report said questions were also raised about whether a federal government shutdown—now lasting more than a month—played a role. Air traffic controllers, officials said, were not directly affected by the shutdown, though TSA staffing disruptions have drawn scrutiny nationwide. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy declined to say how many controllers were on duty at the time of Sunday’s crash, deferring to the NTSB investigation, and he denied rumors that only one controller was staffing the tower, saying LaGuardia is “very well staffed,” with 33 certified controllers and others in training, and a goal of 37 controllers on staff.