LaGuardia plane crash latest: Video shows horrifying moment of impact as Trump official warns travelers to ‘wear your seatbelt’
Flights began to depart LaGuardia Airport Monday just after 2 p.m. after first runway reopened following the crash
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Footage shows the Air Canada Express plane slamming into a Port Authority fire truck on the runway, where the emergency vehicle was responding to an issue on another plane late Sunday night.
The jet involved in the crash landed in New York from Montreal with 72 passengers and four crew members onboard.
"Stop, stop, stop!" an air traffic dispatcher can be heard saying on control tower audio from the incident. A voice later adds: "I messed up."
About 40 passengers and crew members were taken to nearby hospitals, some with serious injuries. Most had been released Monday morning, authorities said.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Monday that the deadly collision served as a reminder to “wear your seatbelts.”
LaGuardia reopened one runway at 2 p.m. Eastern on Monday, though the runway with the crash site is expected to be closed for days.
National Transportation Safety Board investigators are at work at the crash scene and have recovered the jet’s onboard data recorders.
The crash caused delays at LaGuardia, further exacerbating ongoing slow wait times at U.S. airports. The U.S. air transit system is struggling due to the partial government shutdown and a shortage of TSA agents.
Recap: Air Canada passenger plane in deadly collision with fire struck at LaGuardia Airport
If you’re just joining us, here’s everything you need to know:
Joe Sommerlad23 March 2026 10:48
'He must have had incredible reflexes': Passenger thinks pilot's quick move saved lives
Multiple passengers aboard Sunday’s Air Canada flight that crashed at LaGuardia Airport have described its pilots suddenly slowing the plane as it traveled down the runway where it collided with an emergency truck.
“Just as the plane touched down, the pilot braked extremely hard,” Clément Lelièvre told The Canadian Press on Monday. “I don’t know the circumstances, but I think he kind of saved our lives because he must have had incredible reflexes.”
Both pilots were killed in the crash, according to officials.
Josh Marcus24 March 2026 05:00
LaGuardia crash came less than a week after near-collision at Newark Airport
Prior to Sunday’s crash at LaGuardia, there was another concerning safety incident at a New York-area airport.
A commercial airliner and a cargo plane came perilously close to colliding on intersecting runways at Newark Liberty International Airport during an aborted landing last Tuesday.
The close call involved an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 that flew over a FedEx Boeing 777 at the busy New York City-area airport. The two planes were reportedly about 300 feet apart.
According to the FAA, an air traffic controller instructed Alaska Airlines Flight 294, arriving from Portland, Oregon, to perform a “go around” – meaning to discontinue its landing approach and circle for a new attempt.
More details below.
Josh Marcus24 March 2026 04:00
Pilots warned of risky conditions at LaGuardia in years before crash: report
Pilots flying into LaGuardia were reportedly concerned about poor communication and a fast pace of operations at the airport in the years leading up to Sunday’s fatal crash.
“The pace of operations is building in LGA. The controllers are pushing the line,” the pilot said in a report to NASA’s Aviation Safety Reporting System, obtained by CNN. “On thunderstorm days, LGA is starting to feel like DCA did before the accident there.”
The comment was a reference to a catastrophic collision last year between a military helicopter and a commercial jet near a Washington-area airport that killed 67 people.
In 2024, another report in the database described two planes nearly colliding on the ground at LaGuardia, allegedly because of inaccurate instructions from the airport’s air traffic controllers.
The claims paint a further picture of dysfunction at the busy New York hub, where two Delta jets collided on the runway last year.
Josh Marcus24 March 2026 03:40
PHOTOS: Secretary of Transportation visits LaGuardia as crash investigation continues
Trump administration Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy visited LaGuardia International Airport on Monday, where he inspected the crash site with NTSB investigators and spoke alongside New York officials including Gov. Kathy Hochul.
“I am praying for the victims and all those impacted by the tragic crash of Air Canada Express 8646 at LaGuardia Airport,” he wrote on X.
Josh Marcus24 March 2026 03:20
Passenger describes 'eerie' scene after LaGuardia crash
Rebecca Liquori, a nurse based in Baldwin, New York, was one of the survivors of Sunday’s crash at LaGuardia.
Speaking with CNN on Monday night, she described the Air Canada flight from Montreal arriving in New York with a harsh landing.
“We had a very rough landing,” she said. “It almost felt like the plane jolted, and after that you hear the pilot try to brake, and it was like a grinding noise. And then after that it was a huge boom and we all jolted out of our seats. It was an eerie couple of seconds and then we realized, okay, the flight crew is not able to give us guidance.”
Liquori said emergency slides did not deploy and she had to jump off the wing of the plane with help from first responders.
“I'm just grateful to be alive,” Liquori, who was in Canada to visit a friend’s new baby, added. “I'm grateful that I was able to go home and kiss my sons, be able to hug them, because when I was on the plane, I didn't think that I was ever going to get that opportunity again.”
Josh Marcus24 March 2026 02:55
FAA probing if air traffic control was distracted by other plane's problem: report
The Federal Aviation Administration is reportedly investigating whether the air traffic control tower at LaGuardia was stretched thin by addressing a different plane’s problem during Sunday’s runway crash.
One controller was speaking with a fire truck on its way to assist a United Airlines jet, which had reported a foul odor that was sickening flight attendants.
The truck was given the go-ahead to cross the runway, where it collided with an incoming Air Canada plane.
Staffing was lighter than normal in the tower at the time of the crash, given that there are typically less flights late at night, two unnamed sources told the paper.
Josh Marcus24 March 2026 02:30
Gavin Newsom trolls Trump over state of U.S. airports
California Gov. Gavin Newsom mocked President Trump on Monday over the ongoing chaos at U.S. airports by resurfacing a 2016 tweet from the Republican.
“While our wonderful president was out playing golf all day, the TSA is falling apart, just like our government!” Trump wrote in 2016, referring to President Barack Obama. “Airports a total disaster!”
“100% agree,” Newsom wrote on X on Monday, in the wake of the LaGuardia crash and ongoing delays and staffing shortages at U.S. airports.
Josh Marcus24 March 2026 02:10
PHOTOS: NYC mayor visits response to LaGuardia crash
Sunday’s crash at LaGuardia marks one of the first major emergencies in New York City since the recent election of Mayor Zohran Mamdani
He joined officials including Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul today at the airport to visit with investigators responding to the incident.
Josh Marcus24 March 2026 01:50
Former transportation official slams communication around LaGuardia crash
Airport officials appeared to suffer a major breakdown in communications in the lead-up to Sunday’s runway crash at LaGuardia, which occurred when an incoming jet struck a fire truck on the tarmac.
“Once that aircraft was cleared to land … it owned that runway,” Mary Schiavo, a former inspector general of the Department of Transportation, told The New York Post.
Audio captures an air traffic official clearing the truck’s route, only to unsuccessfully try to take back the confirmation moments later.
“Who gave the final clearance for that fire truck across the runway?” Schiavo added. “It should have been the tower, but clearly … someone made a very critical mistake in allowing a fire truck clearance to cross the runway when an aircraft had been given a landing clearance. That’s my take on it.”
Earlier today, Rhian Lubin had this timeline of the crash.
Josh Marcus24 March 2026 01:30
