On Sunday March 22nd, an Air Canadian jet collided into a fire truck while landing at New York’s LaGuardia Airport. The incident led to the deaths of pilot 30 year old Antoine Forest and co-pilot 24 year old Mackenzie Guntheras as well as leading 41 people on the plane being transported to the hospital.

On March 22nd at around 10:30 pm, Air Canada Flight 8646 took off from Montreal-Trudeau International Airport. According to the flight tracking site FlightRadar24 the plane arrived at LaGuardia Airport an hour later and was cleared  to land a little after 11:35 pm. Meanwhile, a fire truck was at the airport UnitedFlight 2384 with an emergency. Apparently according to the article on CNN, “United Flight 2384, bound for Chicago, had aborted takeoff because of a warning light around 11:18 p.m. As controllers worked to find a gate for that plane, the pilots reported an odor in the cabin had sickened the flight attendants”(Sottile, Quednow Mar 24). The crew on a firefighting vehicle was dispatched to respond to the United flight. The firefighter crew requested permission to cross the runway where Canada Fight 8646 was landing. A proximity 10 seconds after the firefighters were granted permission for the fire truck to cross the runway, a controller then told them to stop when Flight 8646 which was traveling 104 mph collided with the fire truck somewhere around 11:38 pm.

Of the 79 people on the plane, pilot 30 year old Antoine Forest and co-pilot and 24 year old Mackenzie Gunther died in the collision. As well as 41 passengers and crew members on the regional jet from Montre were sent to the hospital as well as 2 people who were on the fire truck.

Though 2 lives were lost, those 2 would be credited for saving the lives of the remaining 72 passengers and 2 crew members on the plane by quickly braking and minimizing the impact as it crashed into the truck as it was landing. Most of the people who were sent to the hospital were soon released while some remained at the hospital with serious injuries. Jacob Cabot, 22, was a passenger on the plane and was returning home from a ski trip he went on during spring break. He told NBC News that from his seat he felt the pilots trying to slow down the plane moments before the collision. In the end he came with a bruised cheek and a sore neck, though he knew it could have been worse. “I think everybody on that plane feels very grateful that they’re all alive, and they all pretty much give it to the pilots”( Smith, Cohen, Chuck, and Burke Mar 24).

The cockpit recorder has more than 25 hours on it and the flight data recorder has around 80 hours of data. The NTSB assembled a cockpit recorder group on March 25th scheduled at the agency’s headquarters in Washington to review the recording and create a written transcript. Both US and Canadian officials are working together to investigate the collision.