What we know about the LaGuardia plane and fire truck crash
What we know about the LaGuardia plane and fire truck crash
Two pilots lost their lives in the collision between a passenger jet and a Port Authority fire truck at New York’s LaGuardia Airport during the late hours of Sunday night. Their names have been revealed as Antoine Forest and Mackenzie Gunther, confirmed by Canadian news outlets and a college associated with one of the deceased. Despite the identification, authorities have not yet officially announced their names, with only statements noting that both pilots of the Canada Air Express aircraft perished and that they were based in Canada.
Investigators from the Federal Aviation Administration, the National Transportation Safety Board, and other agencies are examining the incident to uncover the sequence of events. Central to the inquiry is how the fire truck managed to cross the jet’s path shortly after it landed. Preliminary data from the plane’s cockpit voice recorder, shared at a Tuesday afternoon news conference, revealed key moments leading up to the crash.
“The fire truck was cleared to cross the runway 20 seconds before the collision,” explained Doug Brazy, NTSB’s senior aviation investigator.
According to Brazy, the flight crew communicated with LaGuardia’s control tower at 2 minutes and 22 seconds into the event. Moments later, at 2 minutes and 17 seconds, the tower authorized the plane to land on Runway 4. However, a transmission from an airport vehicle at 1 minute and 3 seconds was interrupted by another radio call, causing interference. NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy highlighted this disruption as a critical factor in the crash.
The timeline continues with the tower advising the flight crew that the plane was in a stable approach at 54 seconds. At 40 seconds, the tower asked which vehicle required runway clearance. The fire truck then requested permission to cross Runway 4 at 25 seconds, and the tower granted it at 20 seconds. The truck acknowledged the clearance at 17 seconds, before the tower issued a stop command at 9 seconds. A sound consistent with the landing gear touching down occurred at 8 seconds, followed by a pilot transfer of controls at 6 seconds.
Homendy noted that the first officer was piloting the aircraft before passing control to the captain. She emphasized the dual roles of the two controllers in the tower cabin: one managing active runways and surrounding airspace, while the other oversaw all safety operations and handled clearance delivery duties. However, the NTSB is still determining which controller was responsible for managing vehicle movement on taxiways, as conflicting reports suggest differing responsibilities.
Both controllers were on duty during the crash: the local controller logged in at 10:45 p.m., and the controller in charge arrived at 10:30 p.m. Homendy mentioned that it’s standard practice to have two controllers during the midnight shift, though she noted past concerns about fatigue affecting this shift. While she couldn’t confirm fatigue was a factor here, the shift remains under scrutiny in previous investigations.
Jack Cabot, a 22-year-old passenger on the Canada Air flight, recounted the chaos from his seat in row 18. He described the pilots’ efforts to decelerate the plane just before impact, which saved the lives of 72 passengers and two crew members. Cabot sustained minor injuries, including a cheek bruise and a sore neck, after his head collided with the seat in front of him. The crash also resulted in over 40 people requiring medical treatment, though most were released with light injuries. A few remain hospitalized with more severe conditions.
