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A passenger aboard the Air Canada jet that collided with a fire truck at LaGuardia Airport Sunday night described the instant of the deadly runway impact, saying the pilot “did the best thing he could” in the moment.
Jack Cabot, one of 72 people aboard the Air Canada Express flight, recalled “chaos” unfolding as the plane landed.
“As we were arriving, we came down really hard,” he said. “We stopped really quickly and about two seconds later we had an absolute slam. Everybody was flying everywhere, I mean, the plane started veering off left and right. And there was, it was just chaos.”
“It didn’t feel like anyone was in control of anything,” Cabot continued. “Looking back on it, the pilot did the best thing he could. He hit the brakes as hard as he could and he knew it was going to be at the cost of his own life.”
LAGUARDIA PLANE CRASH AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL AUDIO REVEALS FRANTIC CALL FOR TRUCK TO ‘STOP, STOP, STOP’
An Air Canada Express CRJ-900 sits on the runway after colliding with a Port Authority fire truck at LaGuardia Airport on March 23, 2026, in New York City. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
Both pilots were killed in the collision. Their identities have yet to be released to the public, though the union representing them said both pilots “dedicated their careers to the safe transport of passengers.”
There were 72 passengers and four crew members aboard the CRJ-900 aircraft, officials have said.
An Air Canada Express CRJ-900 sits on the runway after colliding with a Port Authority fire truck at LaGuardia Airport in New York, on March 23, 2026. (Timothy A. Clary/ AFP via Getty Images)
Cabot described many of the passengers as bleeding from their heads after the impact.
“A lot of people got pretty hurt,” he said.
More than 39 passengers and crew and at least two Port Authority firefighters were hospitalized, some with serious injuries, according to officials.
President Donald Trump commented on the deadly collision Monday morning when responding to a question from the media.
“They made a mistake,” Trump said, without elaborating on who. “It’s a dangerous business. That’s terrible.”
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Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Canadian officials were working closely with their U.S. counterparts on the ground to investigate the “deeply saddening” collision.
The circumstances leading up to the collision remain unclear.
A Port Authority spokesperson said in a statement to Fox News Digital that the Port Authority Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting vehicle was responding to a separate incident as the aircraft was landing on Runway 4 at LaGuardia.
In one air traffic control audio clip from the moments before the crash, a controller can be heard on a radio transmission discussing the request for the emergency vehicle to cross part of the tarmac, then trying to stop it.
LISTEN TO AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL AUDIO:
“Stop, Truck 1. Stop,” the transmission said. “Frontier 4195, stop there please. “Stop, stop, stop, stop.”
“Truck 1, stop, stop, stop,” a controller was heard saying. “Stop truck one. Stop!”
In another audio clip from air traffic control, a controller is heard telling the pilot of another plane, “I messed up.”
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The National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration are investigating the collision.
LaGuardia was expected to remain closed until at least 2 p.m. Monday, officials said.
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