A tragic accident at New York LaGuardia Airport has left two pilots dead and dozens injured after an Air Canada regional jet collided with a fire truck on the runway after a critical Air Traffic Control error.
Air Canada Jet Collides With Fire Truck At LaGuardia, Killing Two Pilots
An Air Canada Express CRJ-900 operating from Montreal (YUL) to New York (LGA) collided with an airport fire truck while landing at LaGuardia Airport late Sunday night.
The aircraft, operated by Jazz Aviation, was carrying 72 passengers and four crew members. Both pilots were killed in the collision, while at least 41 people were transported to hospitals, including passengers and personnel on the ground.
The impact caused severe damage to the front of the aircraft, effectively destroying the cockpit section. LaGuardia Airport was shut down following the incident, with hundreds of flights disrupted.
How Did This Happen?
Early indications point to a troubling sequence of events involving runway access.
The fire truck involved in the collision was responding to a separate emergency involving a United Airlines aircraft bound for Chicago (ORD) that had reported smoke in the flight deck.. At some point, it was cleared by the lone ATC controller in the tower to cross the runway.
At the same time, the Air Canada jet was on final approach.
Air traffic control audio captures the final moments before impact, with a controller realizing his error and urgently warning the vehicle:
“Stop, stop, stop!”
The warning came too late.
The aircraft struck the fire truck during landing, with flight data suggesting the jet was still moving at significant speed on touchdown.
Runway incursions involving ground vehicles are rare, but when they occur, the consequences can be severe. We’ve had many near misses lately, but this was tragically not on eon them.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and other agencies have launched an investigation, but it already appears clear at this point what happened. In fact, the air traffic controller even said to another pilot after the incident that “we were dealing with an emergency earlier, and I messed up.”
CONCLUSION
This is a deeply tragic incident, first and foremost for the pilots who lost their lives and for the passengers and crew who were injured. Several remain critically injured and hospitalized.
We’ve had many near misses this year, magnified by social media, but this tragedy demonstrates how little room for error there is.
I feel very bad for the air traffic controller, who was alone and probably under tremendous pressure as that agency continues to face chronic understaffing. To live with that burden…goodness. I send my thoughts and prayers to all victims of this accident, but especially the families of the pilots.
Well said, Matt. It is a tragic accident, and I, too, feel for those affected by it. (Inevitably, some of your readers are soon going to ‘go-there’ so that’ll be ‘fun.’ Can’t let a tragedy go to waste…) *deep sigh*