The pilot and co-pilot of an Air Canada Express regional jet have been killed after the aircraft collided with a fire truck while landing at LaGuardia Airport in New York, an incident that forced the airport to close for several hours.
The Bombardier CRJ-900 aircraft, operated by Jazz Aviation, was carrying 72 passengers and four crew members on a flight from Montreal.
Nine people remain hospitalized following the collision, which occurred at approximately 11:45pm ET on Sunday as the firefighting vehicle was responding to a separate incident.
Quebec-based TVA News identified one of the pilots as Antoine Forest, 30, of Coteau-du-Lac, a city southwest of Montreal. He joined Jazz Aviation in 2022. The second pilot was identified by Radio-Canada sources as Mackenzie Gunther.
In a press conference on Monday evening, Jennifer Homendy, chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, said an investigation was underway. Officials confirmed that both the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder—commonly referred to as the black boxes—had been recovered.
LaGuardia Airport reopened at 2pm on Monday, with officials warning passengers to expect delays and cancellations.
Homendy added that the runway involved in the collision would remain closed for an extended period due to debris and hazardous materials at the scene. “It’s going to be days,” she said.
In the moments leading up to the crash, air traffic control audio captured a controller granting clearance to a vehicle to cross part of the runway before attempting to stop it.
“Stop, Truck 1. Stop,” the transmission says. The controller then quickly redirected incoming aircraft away from landing.
Following the collision, audio released by LiveATC appeared to capture controllers discussing the incident.
One controller said the impact “wasn’t good to watch”. Another responded: “Yeah, I know, I was here. I tried to reach out … We were dealing with an emergency earlier. I messed up.”
“Nah, man, you did the best you could,” the other controller says in the recording.
Donald Trump told reporters in response to the incident: “They made a mistake; it’s a dangerous business. That’s terrible.”
Mark Carney, Canada’s prime minister, described the collision as “deeply saddening”.
Sean Duffy, the US transportation secretary, said in a statement that “our prayers this morning are with the families impacted by the ground collision at LaGuardia”, adding that the Federal Aviation Administration was deploying a team to support the investigation.
Authorities will also examine whether air traffic control staffing levels played a role in the crash.
Kathryn Garcia, executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, said both pilots were based in Canada.
“The loss of our two fellow crewmembers onboard Flight 8646 is a profound tragedy,” said Jason Ambrosi, president of the Air Line Pilots Association, the world’s largest airline pilot union.
“These pilots dedicated their careers to the safe transport of passengers, and we are all thinking of their families, loved ones, and colleagues at Jazz Aviation during this devastating time.”
Photos from the scene showed significant damage to the nose of the aircraft, which was tilted upward. Stairways used for passenger evacuation were positioned against the jet’s emergency exits. Images of the fire vehicle showed it had tipped onto its side.
Earlier reports from NBC News indicated that a sergeant and an officer suffered broken limbs and were in stable condition at a hospital.
The fire truck had been responding to a United Airlines flight that had declared an emergency due to an odor reported onboard. Air traffic controllers had instructed the aircraft that fire trucks were available on site.
According to a 2025 Federal Aviation Administration database, LaGuardia was the 19th busiest airport in the United States in 2024, handling more than 16.7 million passengers.
