Pilot and Co-pilot Killed after Air Canada Jet Collision at New York’s LaGuardia Airport

The pilot and co-pilot died in the crash, while dozens of passengers and emergency responders sustained varying degrees of injuries, according to Reuters

Two pilots have been confirmed dead after an Air Canada Express regional jet collided with a fire truck while landing at LaGuardia Airport in New York late Sunday night, triggering chaos and forcing the shutdown of the busy airport.

The pilot and co-pilot died in the crash, while dozens of passengers and emergency responders sustained varying degrees of injuries, according to Reuters.

The aircraft, a CRJ-900 operated by Jazz Aviation, was carrying 72 passengers and four crew members from Montreal at the time of the incident. Jazz Aviation is a subsidiary of Chorus Aviation.

Sources said the fire truck involved in the collision was manned by police officers responding to a separate emergency on the runway. Earlier reports indicated that at least two officers, a sergeant and another officer, suffered broken limbs but were in stable condition at a hospital.

Data from flight tracking platform Flightradar24 showed that the aircraft struck the fire vehicle at approximately 24 miles per hour (39 km/h), with its last recorded position logged at 11:37 p.m. ET.

Photos from the crash scene revealed significant damage to the nose of the aircraft, which appeared tilted upward after impact.

Authorities, including the Federal Aviation Administration, have yet to officially confirm casualty figures, but said the airport would remain closed until at least 2 p.m. Monday. The disruption led to at least 18 flights being diverted or forced to return to their origin airports.

The National Transportation Safety Board has not issued a statement as of the time of filing this report.

In a brief statement, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey confirmed that the firefighting vehicle was responding to another incident when it was struck by the incoming aircraft on Runway 4.

Emergency services flooded the scene, while New York City’s alert system warned of widespread flight cancellations, traffic disruptions, and heavy presence of emergency personnel around the airport.

LaGuardia Airport, one of the busiest airports in the United States, handled over 30 million passengers in 2025, making the incident one of the most serious aviation disruptions in recent times.

Investigations into the cause of the collision are ongoing.