Air Canada Jet Collides With Fire Truck at LaGuardia Airport Leaving Two Pilots Dead

Two pilots died and 41 people were injured after an Air Canada Express regional jet collided with a Port Authority fire truck on the runway at LaGuardia Airport in New York late Sunday, March 22, 2026. The aircraft, a Bombardier CRJ-900 operating as flight AC8646, was arriving from Montreal when the collision occurred at approximately 23:40 local time. The plane was carrying 72 passengers and four crew members and was operated by Jazz Aviation on behalf of Air Canada. The two fatalities were identified as the pilot and co-pilot of the aircraft. LaGuardia Airport was closed following the incident, with the New York Police Department blocking all surrounding streets and highway exits.

Fire truck had clearance to cross runway seconds before impact Air traffic control audio captured the sequence of events that led to the collision, revealing that the fire truck had initially been cleared to cross the runway before controllers urgently reversed that instruction. The recording includes a controller first authorizing the vehicle: "Truck 1, cleared to cross Runway 4 at taxiway Delta," followed seconds later by frantic commands: "Stop, stop, stop! Truck 1, stop! Truck 1, stop!" The Port Authority Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting vehicle was responding to a separate emergency involving a United Airlines flight that had declared an incident due to a reported odor on board. According to tracking data cited by El Mundo from Flightradar24, the Air Canada jet was traveling at approximately 210 kilometers per hour in the moments before impact, though the final collision occurred at around 39 kilometers per hour. The front section of the aircraft sustained severe damage in the crash. The two firefighters aboard the truck were both hospitalized, though authorities indicated their lives were not feared for.

Nine remain hospitalized with serious injuries after mass discharge Kathryn Garcia, executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, confirmed that 41 people in total were injured in the collision, including passengers, crew members, and the two firefighters in the truck. By Monday morning, 32 of those injured had been discharged from hospital care. Nine people remained hospitalized with serious injuries. The injured included individuals from multiple groups present at the scene — passengers aboard the aircraft, crew members, and the two Port Authority workers in the fire truck. Garcia provided the update as emergency response teams continued to work at the airport. 41 (people) — total injured in LaGuardia runway collision

NTSB investigators dispatched as airport closure extended into Monday The National Transportation Safety Board dispatched a team of investigators to LaGuardia to determine the cause of the accident. The Federal Aviation Administration ordered the airport to remain closed until Monday afternoon. El Mundo reported that the accident occurred against a backdrop of budget pressures affecting safety personnel at various airfields across the United States, though the direct relevance to this specific incident had not been established by investigators as of Monday morning. The NYPD confirmed that all streets and highway exits leading to the airport were closed indefinitely following the incident. Jazz Aviation issued a statement confirming the flight details and noting that the passenger manifest figures remained subject to confirmation. LaGuardia Airport, located in East Elmhurst, Queens, New York City, is one of the busiest regional airports in the United States, handling a high volume of short-haul domestic and cross-border flights. The airport covers 680 acres on the northwestern shore of Long Island, bordering Flushing Bay. Runway incursion incidents — in which aircraft or vehicles enter a runway without proper authorization — are among the most closely monitored safety categories in civil aviation. The NTSB has investigated multiple high-profile runway collision events at major U.S. airports over the decades.