Security video has emerged of the collision between an Air Canada CRJ 900 and a fire truck at LaGuardia Airport late Sunday. The video (shown below) shows the truck, its emergency lights operating, speeding onto the runway from a perpendicular taxiway and turning in the direction of travel of the aircraft. The jet, on its rollout, slams into it at what appears to be a higher speed than the 30 mph earlier reported. Both pilots were killed and 41 others were injured. Hours after the crash, a flight attendant, still strapped in her seat, was found alive outside the aircraft. In the accompanying animation, a controller clears a fire truck to cross Runway 4 and then repeatedly yells “Stop, Stop, Stop.” On another frequency a ground controller tells an airline crew “I messed up.” The fire truck was responding to another emergency on the field.
New CCTV video shows Air Canada Express flight AC8646 crashing into rescue truck at LaGuardia Airport pic.twitter.com/rgRiEvDqLP
— Breaking Aviation News & Videos (@aviationbrk) March 23, 2026
The Jazz flight from Montreal was landing on Runway 4 when the collision occurred. The plane was carrying 72 passengers and four crew. The airport has been closed until 2 p.m local time Monday. Hundreds of flights will be affected. We will be updating this story as more details become available.
#BREAKING Plane collides with fire truck on taxiway at LaGuardia Airport in New York, per initial reports. Unconfirmed reports of injuries.
— Fast News Network (@fastnewsnet) March 23, 2026
pic.twitter.com/8hdCfyMxBQ
Um … Houston … we have a problem here. Is ATC going to say they were understaffed … again? Or maybe the ground controllers and local controllers work on different floors of the tower? I thought leaving your ADS-B ‘on’ when on the ground was going to preclude things like this from happening. Frankly, I’m beginning to fear a bit for air travelers.
How do you argue with a system that is insane? It’s just going to get worse from here unless someone is willing to slow it down and reduce traffic.
We’re saying the same thing in different ways, Jay.
I see 15 people put a thumbs down. OK … let’s see …
Was this an error by an airline crew who was properly cleared to land … NO
Was this an error by an ARFF convoy who asked for and was cleared to cross … NO
Was this an error by a controller who — apparently — cleared both of the above … YES.
Two years from now, the NTSB will come to the same conclusion.
“Sorry, I messed up” … as someone opined below … is OK UNLESS you’re the flight crew.
S&%t happens ain’t good enough. Tell that to the widows.
As the saying goes … “If the pilot screws up … pilot dies. If ATC screws up … pilot still dies and controller goes home anyways.”
I learned long ago that lots of people have opinions. But at the end of the day, if you want to survive in aviation, you better not listen to people who lack wisdom and experience. Group think is how we got to these problems. The trick is to lay some issues out there ahead of time and see how everyone responds. That way you can decide who not to take seriously and that allows you to come home alive at the end of the day unless you had to meet them in an aviation job.
Larry – Maybe people are leaving a thumbs-down because doing things like being snarky about ADS-B undercuts any argument you were trying to make?
I for one cannot tell from your original comment what you’re trying to say. Are you being snarky in your entire comment and trying to claim that ATC understaffing is just a BS excuse? Are you sincerely expressing concern about how ATC is operating (poorly) but then being snarky about ADS-B? I just can’t tell.
I heard the same saying and albeit factually true (pilots die, ATC goes home) I think stating this is more appropriate when a professional pilot would respond with UNABLE or argue the execution of a clearance, vs. a bunch of professionals having deadly accidents while trying to do their job in a high stress, high density, high workload situation. LGA is a busy busy airport and accidents like this show us just how fast stuff can go severely sideways.
Maybe the dislikes came from your comment being rather numb and insensitive, considering that nobody there had any intention of causing death and destruction.
And yes, “shit happens” is the nasty truth and sometimes the one and only solid statement in a ocean full of opinions.
WSJ is reporting the pilots died.
Many more injured. Fire truck crew taken to the hospital. I don’t see how they survived, if they did. But this was actually 2 emergencies, not just 1. The fire truck was responding to another aircraft.
My heart breaks for the families of the pilots.
…for all involved. Pilots who died, fire crew whose goal is to save lives, controllers whose goal is to keep everyone safe, and all their families and friends who will try to help get through the shock and grief.
It is amazing to most of us who have worked in aerospace our entire careers that there are not more accidents. The safety margin is getting thinner….
I agree. It is amazing. Safety margins are basically non-existent now.
Airbus 321 at Cleveland shortly after La Guardia.
https://www.cleveland19.com/2026/03/23/vehicle-collides-with-plane-cleveland-hopkins-international-airport-no-injuries/
Is this at all relevant to the LGA crash?
But, for the amazing number of aircraft operations that happen each day, incredibly safe. “I messed up” unfortunately will slip in there occasionally, controllers and pilots. .
Yes, and if we fly even more aircraft operations each day, it will be even more amazing and there will be even more crashes.
Why does the USA appear to have so many runway infringements and/or close calls?
Why is the USA unique in clearing aircraft to land when the runway is not clear?
Coincidence?
Ben, where does your data come from?
From 2024-2025, the US averages 4 runway incursions per day vs Europe having, on average, 2 incursions per day. However, the US has 50% more part 121 flight hours per day. That’s what AI told me and it can’t be wrong (LOL).
By your data then, the US still has 25% more incursions per flight hour.
What about the second point? Why are aircraft cleared to land when the runway isn’t clear? It’s a moments distraction waiting to be a disaster every damn time.
That doesn’t look like an “about 30 mph” collision.
Those jets must look really slow from the tower. I’ll bet ADS-B will report much faster than 30.
Newer reports are saying 93-105mph.
Landing runway 4, and impact was at Taxiway D. Look at the airport diagram for KLGA. Zero chance that aircraft had slowed to 30 by that point. If he put it down on the captians bars, it would’ve been about 1,500 feet to impact. Final approach speed for a CRJ is probably, what,140kts? I’ll let somebody else do the math, but I think the 90-100 is more believable just from looking at these facts alone.
My prayers for all of those who were impacted by this accident. It really grabbed me when I read the part about the controller saying he “messed up”. Wow. This guy admitted his mistake and didn’t try to blame someone else. Can you imagine having to deal with that mistake for the rest of your life?
“he”? No gender identified.
Apologies. You are correct. The controller I heard on the LiveATC site “sounded like” a male, but the controller that said he/she messed up was on a different frequency.
There will be lots of focus on the ground controller, and there should be, but I can’t understand how a firetruck stopped on Delta asking for permission to cross Runway 04 can’t see an airplane on the runway a few feet away. I mean how hard is it to take a look left and right before keying a mic? To be clear, I’m not apportioning blame here, just scratching my head.
Things are happening so fast that the fire truck crew is focused on doing exactly what they are told, the second they get instructions, regardless of what else is happening around them.
I was in the front, left side of a 747 taxiing at ORD returning from Tokyo at 6AM a Sunday 20+ yrs ago. I watched (and watched) a food truck approaching from that side. It finally slammed on brakes and (damp concrete) slid sideways to a stop. The tip of the wing went over the top. 747 never changed speed. It was not moving as fast as the truck.
Stuff happens, but not seeing a 747 is crazy.
This sounded like a very busy controller and very professional fire vehicle communication. Two heavy vehicles, lots of energy to dissipate.
https://x.com/breaking911/status/2036054389442351535?s=43
Did the wings get clipped???
Well folks, seems like the pilots missed a big call. CVR transcript read oit by NTSB confirms the pilots SHOULD have heard the tower clear the firetrucks to cross the runway they had been cleared to land on 9 seconds before impact. Situational awareness is paramount in the tower and the cockpit. There is going to be blame here also. We have just as much responsibility in the cockpit to pay attention to save our butts too!
There are going to be other factors brought out obviously as with any investigation. One thing that just glares with my listening of the NTSB reading the voice recorder transcripts yesterday was that at 9 seconds before the collision occurred was when the controller cleared the trucks to cross 4 at Delta. This transmission was, or should have been heard in the cockpit. Over my 55 years of Airline, Military and GA flying I learned that situational awareness is a life saver.