LaGuardia Collision Kills 2 Pilots, Closes Airport

Air traffic control recordings show a fire truck was cleared to enter Runway 4, where it collided with a landing Air Canada jet.

Zach Vasile

Monday, March 23, 2026 at 10:50 AM ET

Verified

Edited By:

Travis Tingle

An Air Canada CRJ-900 [Shutterstock/Minh K Tran]

Key Takeaways:

An Air Canada regional jet collided with a fire truck while landing at LaGuardia Airport (KLGA), killing the flight's two pilots and injuring 41 other individuals (39 from the plane, 2 from the fire truck).
Air traffic control (ATC) initially cleared the fire truck to cross Runway 4 but then issued frantic commands to stop it just before the collision, with an ATC controller later admitting, "I messed up."
The fire truck was responding to an "odor" report on another flight, and the incident, which led to the closure of LaGuardia Airport, is now under investigation by the FAA and NTSB, with potential ATC staffing levels possibly playing a role.

See a mistake? Contact us.

Two pilots were killed and dozens of others injured late Sunday night when an Air Canada regional jet hit a fire truck while landing at LaGuardia Airport (KLGA) in New York.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates LaGuardia, said the flight’s pilot and copilot were killed. Forty-one other people, 39 from the Air Canada Bombardier CRJ-900, and two from the firefighting vehicle, were reported injured and taken to area hospitals.