An Air Canada flight attendant was reportedly thrown 100 meters from the plane while still strapped into her child seat following the crash at New York’s LaGuardia Airport late Sunday.
Solange Tremblay, the senior flight attendant, suffered multiple fractures to one leg and requires surgery, her daughter Sarah Lepine told Canadian news channel TVA Nouvelles.
“She was still strapped to her seat” when first responders reached her, Lepine said after speaking with her after the crash.
Her survival was “an absolute miracle,” she said.
“I’m still trying to understand how this all happened, but she definitely has a guardian angel watching over her,” Lepine said.
The Air Canada Express CRJ-900 plane carrying 72 passengers and four crew from Montreal collided with a fire truck while landing at LaGuardia Airport, killing the pilot and co-pilot and injuring several others.
The fire truck crossed the tarmac just before midnight after being given permission to search for another plane that had aborted its takeoff due to a “strange smell.”
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Surveillance footage captured the moment the plane crashed into the vehicle as it crossed its path, sending both hurtling down the runway.
The second flight No. AC8646 collided with the fire truck at La Guardia. pic.twitter.com/Y7NRwzUNOm
— HoCStaffer (@HoCStaffer) March 23, 2026
According to air traffic control audio, an air traffic controller can be heard telling the plane that a fire truck is on the way and clearing a truck to cross a runway. Moments later he can be heard saying: “Stop, stop, stop, truck 1, stop, truck 1, stop.”
About 20 minutes later he seems to blame himself. “We were dealing with an emergency earlier,” the air traffic controller said. “I screwed up.”
Air Canada passenger talks about crash at New York airport
A passenger recounted the fatal Air Canada plane crash, saying the plane hit turbulence as it descended, after which she felt it brake sharply and heard a loud bang.
“Everyone just jumped out of their seats. People were hitting their heads. People were bleeding,” Rebecca Liquori told a news station.
Damaged Air Canada Express jet seen after colliding with a ground vehicle at New York’s LaGuardia Airport
Photo credit: Reuters
She said passengers helped each other slide down a wing.
“I’m just happy to be alive,” said Liquori, who traveled to Montreal for a cousin’s baby shower.
“I could never have imagined that an hour-long flight that I have taken countless times would end like this,” she said.
Air Canada plane pilot identified
The two Air Canada pilots were identified as Antoine Forest and MacKenzie Gunther.
They were both based in Canada.
Jeannette Gagnier, Antoine Forest’s great-aunt, said he always wanted to be a pilot. His LinkedIn page showed that he had worked for two airlines in the last five years.
Antoine Forest was reportedly 30 years old
The two young pilots were just beginning their careers, said Bryan Bedford, head of the Federal Aviation Administration.
“It’s an absolute tragedy,” he said at a news conference.
The crash comes as U.S. aviation faces a chronic shortage of air traffic controllers and a separate shortage of security officers due to a partial government shutdown that has led to delays and long security lines at the country’s airports.