Mastodawn

Pilots dead, a stewardess ejected onto the runway, that leaves 1 of 4 crew possibly able to help passengers. The stories we hear later are likely to be of chaos.

The air traffic controller. The guilt.

Hopefully no more than 2 dead. Earlier reports only focused on the critically injured people in the fire truck and we don’t know the status of passengers still in the hospital.

Should’ve been a milk run. Awful.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/air-canada-express-accident-la-guardia-airport-9.7138206

Air traffic controller heard telling truck to stop moments before deadly Air Canada crash | CBC News

Moments before an Air Canada plane collided with a ground vehicle at New York's LaGuardia Airport — killing two of its pilots — an air traffic controller is heard on the radio urgently telling the fire truck to stop and not cross the runway, using the word "stop" at least ten times.

CBC

What a stressful job. Knowing a crash had happened and staying calm to keep more crashes from happening and others around you also quickly adapting.

Pinchy63 🇨🇦Mar 23

@CStamp
Yep these are the same people our government doesn’t want to pay for their time waiting at the airport.

The first passenger interview I've seen.

They, or at least enough, stayed cool, and because there were no crew to guide them, took it upon themselves to open the emergency doors and get out.

This guy credits the pilots for a quick response with braking, thinking it likely saved more lives.

"“At the time, it was OK, but then around 4 or 5 in the morning, when the adrenalin had worn off a bit, we realized that this doesn’t happen every day.”"

https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/article/2-people-killed-in-collision-between-jet-and-vehicle-at-new-yorks-laguardia-airport-source-says/

Two pilots flying Air Canada jet killed in crash at LaGuardia Airport

An Air Canada jet carrying 76 people touched down and slammed into a fire truck on a runway at New York’s LaGuardia Airport late Sunday night, killing its two pilots and injuring many more.

CTVNews

❄️SnowyIn🇨🇦❄️Mar 23

@CStamp
I don't understand how an air traffic controller could make such a terrible error because they are trained to cope with a lot ...
*Many* decades ago, I used to know one who worked in BC. One day his ill wife called and told me he forgot his wallet at home and asked me to drive to the airport. I took it up the tower to him, and upon my opening the door he spun around so quickly his chair tipped backward, hit the floor, and while laying there with his feet in the air, his voice didn't skip a beat as he looked up and continued speaking to a pilot.
Now that takes concentration, discipline, and the ability to remain calm despite what's happening in one's surroundings.

@SnowyCA It's a job in which a split second mistake can cost lives. We don't know the circumstances, so I won't pass judgement. I am sure more information will come out in the coming weeks. I don't want to image the torment he is feeling.

❄️SnowyIn🇨🇦❄️Mar 23

@CStamp
I'm not judging, I'm saying it's unusual for such an awful mistake.

❄️SnowyIn🇨🇦❄️Mar 23

@CStamp
I should have added, "thankfully"

RightSprung will not comply Mar 23

@CStamp with all this administration's cuts to the federal service, and especially ATC I would not fly to, through or near the US right now.

@rightsprung Yeah, so many reasons to avoid that country. I was reading somewhere that the air traffic controllers weren’t affected by the current situation, but I guess we’ll hear more about that later. Whether they still have shortages of staff that might’ve contributed to this? These folk should not be overworked.

RightSprung will not comply Mar 23

For sure. I would hope that most services were unaffected. Its not the kind of thing you can underfund....

@rightsprung Well, not the thing one SHOULD underfund.

Francisca Sinn Mar 23

@CStamp The Guardian reports further detail:

“In the moments before the crash, an air traffic controller could be heard on a radio transmission giving clearance to a vehicle to cross part of the runway, then trying to stop it.

“Stop, Truck 1. Stop,” the transmission says. The controller can then be heard quickly diverting incoming aircraft from landing.“

Horrific and heartbreaking all around.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/23/air-canada-plane-collides-with-ground-vehicle-at-new-yorks-laguardia-airport-halting-all-flights

#Canada #AC8646 #AirCanada #LaGuardia

Two pilots killed after Air Canada jet collision at LaGuardia in New York

NTSB says investigation under way as nine people remain hospitalized after plane hit fire tuck on runway

The Guardian

@fsinn yeah, an edited version of the audio is in the video in the article I linked to as well. That air traffic controller is living a nightmare today.

Francisca Sinn Mar 23

@CStamp I decided the audio would be bad for my health and skipped it. Well, worse than the already bad print news.

@fsinn It was a tragic event and folk will be answering a lot of of questions. Well, some of those questions will be directed to those in the fire truck, who are apparently currently in critical condition. Why didn’t they stop when told to?

Anyway, still early.

RootWyrm 🇺🇦

@fsinn @CStamp the worst part is it was all entirely avoidable. I don't know if the 3,500 short number on ATC is open positions that will never be filled or the number that have called out.

But I do know that an ATC who is married with one child, after a year of basically paying for their own mandatory training due to the ridiculously inadequate stipends, will be paid so little they qualify for food stamps.

@rootwyrm @fsinn Yeah, the ATC absolutely made a mistake, but over the next days we’ll learn more about any contributing factors.

This should be a highly-paid job.