Air traffic control audio captured the dramatic radio traffic before and after an Air Canada Express jet collided with a fire truck on a runway at New York's LaGuardia airport late on Sunday, March 22, an accident that killed two pilots and injured dozens of others.
The Air Canada Express CRJ‑900, operated by Jazz Aviation, was arriving from Montreal with 72 passengers and four crew members on board when it collided with a Port Authority Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting vehicle shortly before 11:40 p.m., according to airport officials.
Kathryn Garcia, executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, said at a news conference that the fire truck was responding to a separate incident involving a United Airlines flight that had reported an odor on board.
Garcia said 41 passengers and crew members were transported to hospitals. Thirty‑two have since been released, while others remain hospitalized with serious injuries. Two Port Authority officers who were inside the fire truck were also injured and remain hospitalized with non‑life‑threatening injuries, she said.
Minutes before the collision, air traffic control audio posted by LiveATC.net captured discussions about the United Airlines odor emergency, including controllers noting that emergency vehicles were already responding, Reuters reported. Additional recordings from before and after the crash document attempts by controllers to communicate with both the passenger jet and the fire truck in the moments leading up to the collision.
