A chilling air traffic control recording has brought into focus the final, chaotic seconds before a fatal runway collision at LaGuardia Airport, where an Air Canada Express jet struck a firefighting truck during landing, killing both pilots and injuring several others.
Audio from the control tower reveals rising panic as the situation spiralled. Controllers urgently tried to prevent disaster, shouting repeated warnings, “Stop, stop, stop, stop. Truck 1, stop, stop, stop. Stop, Truck 1. Stop,” as both the aircraft and the emergency vehicle moved toward the same runway.
As revealed by The New York Post, the aircraft, a CRJ-900 operated by Jazz Aviation, had arrived from Montreal with 72 passengers and four crew members on board. It collided with the airport rescue and firefighting truck at a speed of about 24 miles per hour (39 km/h), leaving the plane’s nose crushed and the truck overturned on impact.
Controller admits error
As the crash took place, the controller instructed other aircraft in the vicinity to abort operations. “Jazz 646, I see you collided with the vehicle. Just hold position. I know you can’t move. Vehicles are responding to you now,” the controller said.
Shortly after the controller admitted, “Yeah, I tried to reach out to ‘em … And we were dealing with an emergency, and I messed up.” Pilots from another aircraft responded with empathy, “No, you did the best you could,” attempting to reassure the shaken controller.
Multiple aircraft affected as confusion builds
The audio also captured how the situation escalated across the runway. Controllers ordered a Frontier flight and a Delta aircraft to halt or go around, and also informing crews that the runway would be shut down.
“We got stuff in progress for that, man, that wasn’t good to watch,” Frontier pilots said, showing the shock among those monitoring the incident from nearby aircraft. Moments earlier, a separate United flight had already aborted takeoff due to a technical warning, adding to the congestion and pressure on the runway.
Casualties, injuries and investigation underway
Authorities confirmed that both the pilot and co-pilot of the Air Canada Express flight were killed in the collision. At least 11 passengers and two first responders were hospitalised with injuries.
The firefighting truck had been cleared to cross Runway 4 while responding to another emergency, raising serious concerns about communication breakdowns and runway safety protocols. LaGuardia Airport was shut down following the crash, with operations suspended until 2 p.m. EST