A regional Air Canada jet collided with a Port Authority airport vehicle while landing at LaGuardia Airport in New York City, killing the pilot and co-pilot and injuring dozens of passengers, ABC News reported. The crash destroyed the front of the aircraft, forced the airport to shut down and immediately raised questions about how a vehicle ended up crossing a live runway at the same moment the plane was touching down.
According to the report, at least 43 people were taken to hospitals after the plane, operated by Jazz Aviation as Air Canada Flight 8646, struck a rescue-and-firefighting vehicle that had been responding to a separate incident. The vehicle had been cleared to cross Runway 4 at taxiway Delta, but audio recordings later captured an air traffic controller telling it to stop several times before the collision. That sequence will be central to the investigation because it places runway coordination, radio procedure and vehicle movement at the heart of the case.
Flight data cited by FlightRadar24 suggested the jet was moving between 93 and 105 mph when it hit the fire truck. The airport closed after the crash and reopened later with a single runway, which meant delays and cancellations were expected while operations slowly restarted. Officials also said the runway where the collision occurred would remain closed until Friday morning, giving investigators time to document debris and collect evidence from the scene.
The National Transportation Safety Board has taken the lead on the investigation, with Canadian authorities also involved because the aircraft was operated by a Canadian carrier. NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder had been recovered, and that investigators were checking how many air traffic controllers were working at the time. That kind of staffing review matters because the report says Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy described LaGuardia’s control operation as well staffed, but did not say how many controllers were on duty that night.
The crash also carried a grim bit of timing: it came 34 years to the day since the last fatal incident at LaGuardia Airport. Air Canada’s chief executive said the airline’s first priority was caring for the passengers, crew and families, while Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney called the collision deeply saddening. Even at this early stage, the ABC report shows an accident that has moved beyond the runway and into a broad inquiry about airport safety, staffing and how quickly a routine landing turned deadly.
