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Two Air Canada pilots were killed late Sunday when their flight from Montreal crashed into a rescue vehicle on a runway at New York’s LaGuardia Airport.
Kathryn Garcia, executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, said 41 people were taken to hospitals in Queens and that 32 were eventually released.
She said nine people remained in hospital and that some are in serious condition.
“Sadly, the two pilots are confirmed deceased and notifications are being made by Air Canada’s care team at this time,” Garcia told a news conference early Monday.
A statement from Jazz Aviation, a regional partner of Air Canada, said 72 passengers and four crew members were on board the plane when it crashed. Flight AC8646 originated at Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport in Montreal.
The Port Authority earlier said the aircraft struck a rescue and firefighting vehicle that was responding to a separate incident.
Photos show the jet with its cockpit destroyed, wires and flight controls dangling out from the fuselage. Nearby, a damaged emergency vehicle lay on its side.
Stairways used to evacuate passengers from aircraft were pushed up to the emergency exits on the jet, a Bombardier CRJ.
The pilots were both based out of Canada, Garcia said.
The airport was to remain closed until at least 2 p.m. ET Monday to facilitate the investigation, which was being led by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)
The fire truck was travelling across the runway to respond to a separate incident aboard a United Airlines flight, whose pilot had reported “an issue with odour,” said Garcia. She deferred additional questions about the sequence of events leading up to the crash to the NTSB.
In the moments before the crash, an air traffic controller could be heard on a radio transmission giving clearance to a vehicle to cross part of the tarmac, then trying to stop it.
“Stop, Truck 1. Stop,” the transmission says. The controller can then be heard frantically diverting incoming aircraft from landing.
What the air traffic audio tells us
David Common
The audio of the seconds before Flight AC8646 touches down on LaGuardia’s Runway 4 is deeply instructive of the sequence of events.
Seconds before, a United Airlines flight reports a strange odour on board, prompting an emergency response by the airport’s rescue and firefighting (ARFF) team.
Multiple vehicles leave the airport fire station and approach Runway 4. As required, they request permission to cross the runway from controllers. That permission is granted and the lumbering vehicles begin to accelerate.
Mere seconds later, the same ground controller is heard on the radio urgently calling on the vehicles to stop. He uses the word “stop” ten times.
It’s too late. A collision occurs as the Air Canada plane touches down at speed.
The controller can be heard continuing to do his job — but clearly in distress — as alarms sound at his location.
He orders an approaching Delta airline plane to “go around” — meaning to halt its already approved landing on the same runway. The plane acknowledges and ascends.
The controller tells the Air Canada pilots that help is on the way. But the nose is already sheared off. They likely do not hear. They may have already been dead.
A major event is declared just before midnight at LaGuardia. The affected runway is ordered closed, and all remaining emergency vehicles are approved to proceed to the crash site.
Additional fire trucks are then called in from the fire department of New York.
The controller is heard on the audio saying “I messed up.” Another pilot tries to console him. Standard procedure would then require he be relieved of his position — the very first step in what will be a long investigation.