Name: Investigation underway after plane slams into fire-rescue truck while landing at LaGuardia
Uploaded: 2026-03-24T23:07:58.000Z
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We're going to begin with everything we know right now about that deadly collision at LaGuardia Airport late last night, an Air Canada jet landing and then slamming into a Port Authority fire truck.

Adverbs of degree

The accident generating so much force it sheared off the nose of the plane and sent the truck tumbling over onto the grass next to the runway.

Both pilots died on impact and dozens of other people are injured tonight, among them a flight attendant, thrown still in her jump seat out onto the tarmac, and

yet she survived, a total miracle according to her daughter.

But tonight investigators working to understand why this accident happened at all, and

Tom Hansen is at LaGuardia for us, the plane and the truck still there behind him, right where they came to a stop.

Well, flights here at LaGuardia have begun to resume, but

it's to the backdrop of that mangled wreckage we've been watching as the NTSB has sifted through the debris.

They pulled two data recorders from the plane, and

now investigators are hard at work to figure out exactly what went wrong here.

Surveillance footage captured the terrifying moment: an Air Canada Express jet traveling more than 100 mph slammed nose first into a Port Authority fire truck crossing the runway just before midnight.

Truck one and company LaGuardia Tower requesting to cross.

Seconds earlier, an air traffic controller cleared the truck to cross, but

quickly realized the Air Canada jet was landing and tried to get the truck to stop.

That fire truck was responding to another airline that requested help to investigate an odor on board.

Minutes later, as the controller directed traffic in the aftermath, he appeared to take responsibility for the collision.

we were dealing with an emergency earlier, and I messed up.

The flight from Montreal carried 72 passengers and four crew members.

Dozens were injured and taken to area hospitals.

A flight attendant was found alive on the tarmac, still strapped to her seat.

The two firefighters in the truck also suffered injuries.

I just want to, uh, let America know that we, uh, we are working our hearts out to make sure that when people travel, whether by rail or car or by air, that they travel safely.

For hours, the airport was shut down and started resuming flights late this afternoon, with only one runway open.

The pilots did the absolute best they could, and

I just, uh, forever going to be thankful for that.

And Tony, nine patients remain in the hospital tonight with non-life-threatening injuries.

Meanwhile, the FAA says that that runway where the collision unfolded will remain closed until Friday morning, Tony.

Tom Hansen for us, leading us off at LaGuardia Airport.

Let's now go to senior transportation correspondent Chris Van Cleave.

What do we expect investigators to focus on here?

Well, Tony, the NTSB is going to take a deep dive into what was going on inside that air traffic control tower.

They're going to look at staffing and workload.

If that sounds familiar, those were central focuses of the mid-air collision over Washington, D.C.

It may have been a factor into this accident.

Now, LaGuardia is a fairly well-staffed control tower, and

the transportation secretary today said there were more than one controller working at the time of this accident.

They would have the FAA would have called that adequate staffing.

The NTSB is going to look at whether those assumptions about adequate staffing actually made sense with the amount of workload.

Remember, they were dealing with an emergency on one side of the airport with a United flight that had a fume issue, as well as air traffic coming and going and planes moving around the tarmac.

The workload got really high for the controller at the point where he was clearing that fire truck to come across.

The other thing they're going to look at is communication.

We it is likely, Tony, that the fire truck and the air traffic controllers were talking to each other on one radio channel, and

the plane and the controller were talking on another.

So those pilots never heard that fire truck be cleared to come across the runway, and

that plane, before they land, they pitched the nose up.

So those pilots may have not seen that fire truck until they were wheels down and barreling down runway four.

You know, Chris, people at home will think about the timing here.

It happens during this partial government shutdown.

TSA officers working without pay, many not going to work.

This crash not related to any of that, correct?

Certainly not any tied to the safety of the aviation system, but

for flyers, the combination could certainly be unsettling, Tony.