2 pilots killed at LaGuardia Airport when jet collides with Port Authority fire truck

Rocco Parascandola, New York Daily News on Mar 23, 2026

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NEW YORK — Two pilots were killed when a jet landing at LaGuardia Airport collided with a Port Authority fire truck, authorities said Monday.

The dramatic seconds before the crash, which happened just before 11:40 p.m. Sunday, was captured on audio, with an air traffic controller admitting he “messed up” after he tried to prevent the collision.

The Queens airport was ordered shut down entirely until 2 p.m. Monday as the crash is investigated by a raft of agencies.

The Air Canada jet, arriving from Montreal, struck the fire truck, which was crossing the runway as it responded to an unrelated incident, about 11:35 p.m. Sunday.

The plane’s nose was sheared off from the impact, leaving the pilot and co-pilot dead. Their names were not immediately released.

Forty-one people — passengers, crew members and two Port Authority police officers — were taken to area hospitals, with 32 treated for minor injuries and the other nine more seriously hurt, authorities said.

On the audio, from LIVEATC.net, a website that captures air traffic control communications, the fire truck operator can be heard asking the air traffic controller for permission to cross runway No. 4 and getting permission to do so.

Less than four seconds later, however, the controller changed up, telling the truck operator and the pilot of a Frontier Airlines plane, to stop.

“Stop, stop, stop, stop,” the controller yelled. “Truck 1, stop, stop, stop. Stop, Truck 1, stop.”

It was too late.

The controller then ordered a Delta Airlines plane to maneuver around the crash site and assured the Air Canada pilots, their fatal injuries unbeknownst to him at the time, to “hold position.”

“Vehicles are responding to you now,” the air traffic controller assures them.

A few moments later, a Frontier pilot lamented what he just saw.

“That wasn’t good to watch,” the pilot said.

“Yeah, I tried to reach out to (inaudible)… And we were dealing with an emergency and I messed up,” the controller replied.

“Nah, maybe you did the best you could,” the Frontier pilot assured him.

Mayor Mamdani said in a statement he had been briefed on the crash.

“The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the incident, and the City is in close contact with federal, state, and local partners,” Mamdani said. “I am grateful to our first responders, whose swift actions saved lives.”

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With Josephine Stratman

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