An Air Canada regional jet landing at New York’s LaGuardia Airport collided with a fire truck on the runway, killing the pilot and co-pilot and badly injuring two Port Authority officers traveling in the vehicle.
The collision occurred after 11:30 p.m. Sunday at the Queens airport, FDNY officials said. The Air Canada plane was at the end of landing when it collided with the fire truck that was traveling across the runway to respond to a separate incident aboard a United Airlines flight, Port Authority Executive Director Kathryn Garcia said during a news conference early Monday.
The pilot and copilot were killed in the collision, which crushed the nose of the aircraft. Two Port Authority police officers inside the fire truck — a sergeant and an officer — suffered broken bones in the collision and were taken to area hospitals, two sources told NBC New York.
Garcia said of the 72 passengers and four crew members onboard the plane, 39 were treated for injuries at area hospitals, some of them seriously. About 32 people have since been released.
Photos and videos from the scene showed severe damage to the front of the jet, a Bombardier CRJ, with cables and debris hanging from a mangled cockpit. Nearby, the damaged fire truck lay on its side.
Flight AC8646, a Jazz Aviation flight operating on behalf of Air Canada Express, had taken off from Montréal Sunday evening, according to statement from the airline.
Two sources said the plane was traveling about 30 mph at the time it collided with the truck on Runway 4. For comparison, when taxiing on the tarmac, planes typically travel about 5 mph.
A Port Authority spokesperson said the Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting vehicle was responding to a separate incident aboard a United flight, whose pilot had reported “an issue with odor.”
Chilling audio from the moments before the crash, an air traffic controller could be heard on a radio transmission giving clearance to fire truck to cross part of the tarmac, then quickly instructing it to stop multiple times before the audio cuts out.
“Truck 1, stop, stop, stop. Stop, Truck 1. Stop,” the transmission says.
City officials said to expect cancellations, road closures, traffic delays and a heavy FDNY presence near LaGuardia as a result of the incident, advising those on the roads to avoid the area. All streets and highway exits into the airport were closed until further notice, the NYPD said.
The airport was put under a full ground stop and will remain closed until 2 p.m. Monday, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
What caused the collision was not immediately clear. An investigation is ongoing. The National Transportation Safety Board said it was gathering information regarding the situation and was launching a go team to investigate. It did not provide any other details early Monday.
The FAA said in a brief statement that is would be investigating the incident as well.
Air traffic controllers are not impacted by the partial government shutdown that has caused long delays at airport security checkpoints in recent days. They have been affected by past shutdowns.
The collision occurred following an evening featuring bands of heavy rain across the New York City area. Video footage from the scene showed water on the tarmac as a result of the rain, but it wasn’t clear whether rain or weather conditions played a role in the incident.
Visibility dropped to about three miles at the time of the collision, with rain and mist coming down.
