Video of the horrific crash has been released to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the footage also found its way into social media. The Air Canada jet was landing when it hit an emergency firetruck that was crossing the runway. WATCH:
According to a CNN update, one of the flight attendants was thrown out of the plane during the incident and was found alive still strapped to her seat.
(VIA CNN) A flight attendant survived the deadly Air Canada plane crash after she was found outside the aircraft still strapped in her seat, a law enforcement source told CNN.
Two people — a pilot and a first officer — were killed in Sunday night’s crash, Air Canada said. But the airline said it could not confirm the exact number of injuries or deaths early this morning. (Live Updates)
She is one lucky lady. Prayers for her full recovery.
Did she fly out from the cockpit?
Flight attendants are typically strapped into jumper seats far forward I the main cabin just outside the flight deck.
Yes – I realize that. Did that seat fly out from the opening caused by the crash?
her jump seat backed the cockpit door, see red circle on seating chart
the main hull likely split along the reinforced structure of the cockpit bulkhead, allowing her jump seat to drop to the tarmac – or at least hang from the wreckage
from Newsweek
click twice to enlarge
Air Canada flight attendant on LaGuardia plane was strapped to jump seat and ejected during deadly crash
Allegedly, she was located approximately 300 – 330 feet from the wreckage.
wow – so she must have dropped to the tarmac and the plane kept skidding down the runway by momentum?
or the opposite – her seat dropped out of the plane to the tarmac and skidded down the runway while the plane got more “stopped dead” by the truck?
do you know which? was she found down-runway ahead of the plane? or left behind as the plane continued?
Why no pictures of the “Fire Truck” ???
I know that equipment is built like a tank but where is it ?
I no longer buy air travel is the safest form of transportation and will never ever step a foot on an aircraft because most of the problems are coming from ground crew and Air Traffic Controllers.
It is behind and left of the plane. It was knocked into the grass median.
Thank you for posting that.
“Why no pictures of the “Fire Truck” ???”
In the center-left portion of the photo provided above by Genie, the yellow colored truck is on its side. You can see the number “35” on the truck’s roof.
Why does the fire truck have to cross the middle of a landing runway? There are two ends of the runway not to be in the trajectory of the landing path???!!!!
Reports I read said it was responding to an emergency call from another aircraft who reported a strong odor.
Also reports were that the traffic controller was distracted by a previous incident(?).
Here is audio of the controller attempting to get the truck to stop.
https://x.com/aviationbrk/status/2035979210649387467?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2035979210649387467%7Ctwgr%5Ec5b0bf2e165209f63fb73ef075d8b4b33acf0efb%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fmarkets%2Fpassenger-jet-collides-vehicle-nycs-laguardia-killing-pilot-and-co-pilot
I saw the fire truck. According to the Daily Mail, the aircraft was travelling at approximately 150 mph when it t-boned the fire truck. The track was resting on its side several yards from the plane. It’s a wonder no one in the truck was killed. Prayers for the souls lost and persons injured+
“FlightRadar24 shows that Flight AC8646’s groundspeed was around 24 mph at the time of the incident.”
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/passenger-jet-collides-vehicle-nycs-laguardia-killing-pilot-and-co-pilot
DEI
DEI and jabs mauled the pilot corps.
Both pilots were reportedly male.
Not the pilots fault.
Definitely not the pilot’s fault. He’s cleared to land, he owns that runway.
You have no clue.
Keep in mind that air travel is the safest only in comparison to driving and Amtrak. I swore off Amtrak years ago.
I prefer Amtrak.
I prefer wagon train.
Ha! Didn’t you ever play Oregon Trail? You’re gonna die. 🥲
Amtrak took over ‘The City of New Orleans’ if I am not mistaken….
Statistically, air travel is the safest. It’s just that when it’s not, it’s horrific.
It’s safe until it isn’t. And watching YT as lunatics in planes have to be dragged out and deplaning all the others… I’m driving.
Maybe, but DEI + too many crazies on planes = driving everywhere.
It rolled over and miraculously both survived.
Listened to the audio. This is clear air traffic controller issue. He greenlighted the firetruck to proceed and then tried to correct that after the fact. I would appreciate seeing longer footage though. Was that firetruck stopped and then proceeding or rolling and greenlighted. Plane was definitely travelling faster than 24 mph as previous reports suggested.
it was traveling at 104 mph.
I have one simple question…who all looks both ways before crossing the street, or active runway in this matter? Had someone bothered looking left, right, then left, I’m sure they would have seen bright landing or taxi lights illuminated on the regional jet. If I’m the first person when a light turns green and I’m entering a throughway, I look both ways! I’ve avoided two wrecks by letting trucks run a redlight before I’ll progress on my green light.
As I said below:
Also pay attention to how many lights there are around a tarmac at night. It’s virtually impossible for a driver to pick out a set of blinking and moving lights from all the other blinking and moving lights, especially ones moving over 100 mph at right angles to his field of vision. The flight crew is also going to have a near-zero ability to see any obstructions, even lighted ones, on a runway before a go-around becomes impossible.
You’re not going to see a plane coming at you, from above, at 150 mph. It is ATC’s responsibility to track traffic, coordinate movement, and communicate effectively. The guys on the ground do not have the training or physical capabilities to do so.
Total Nonsense from one’s bum.
Bot. Really stupid bot.
And even though I liked Eve Arden, I hated that stupid show – one of the worst!
If you can’t interpret the different lights on a airfield you shouldn’t be accessing the field.
If you don’t know what every light does on an airfield then don’t pretend you do and then make comments from your bum.
There is a big difference between 104 knots (120 mph) in your, ungoverned, Prius vs 104 knots touching down.
Again, nonsense from numerous bum’s
PS Don’t ever go to this bums airport. It’s not safe.
“The guys on the ground do not have the training or physical capabilities to do so.”
Your ignorance about sight and speed is showing through.
No, your comment is nonsense!
Another idiot self-identifies.
It’s virtually impossible for a driver to pick out a set of blinking and moving lights from all the other blinking and moving lights.………………
At 175 feet per second from a landing aircraft……
Absolutely correct. Similar but much slower is entering a port channel at night and trying to see the range lights from a boat.
At 175 feet per second from a landing aircraft……
Reports indicate the speed was 104mph at time of impact which seems more accurate.
Passenger aircraft generally land at between 120mph and 155mph ground speed, depending on weather, flap settings, and wind. Then immediately after touchdown, the pilots begin applying brakes and thrust reversers on each engine. It makes more sense that the aircraft (a Bombardier CRJ-900) had slowed somewhat since touching down, so 104 seems realistic. That doesn’t change the confusing visual at ground level at night as you described. Plus the plane was coming from the truck’s right, which would have been the driver’s more limited view….
What was the plane’s height at the time the fire truck started onto the runway?
The plane was on the runway for at least 300 feet.
I wonder if they have the ‘black box’?
They do and it is in DC being analyzed.
I don’t see where that’s mentioned anywhere. The video picks up with the fire truck approaching the intersection and the plane suddenly appearing going left to right a few seconds later.
So I don’t think this was at near the point where the plane touched down. I think the plane had touched down way back to the left of the video and was simply slowing down. That’s why it was only doing 104 at the point of impact.
The ground looks wet. Had it been raining?
Would add more lights & reflexion to the confusion.
It would seem so (raining). Yes, the reflections of the wet runway would increase the number of light sources visible to the firetruck driver. Great point.
It all boils down to fatally errant ATC instructions. Should’ve never happened.
It looked like the plane was landing right next to the terminals. Must be an optical illusion.
They’ve been using AI since the 1950s. AI is just a clever marketing gimmick. AI is simply a computer model, doing what it’s told to do. Need more humans in the control tower.
AI is a marketing term for what used to be called “automation”.
You are wrong.
“I have one simple question…who all looks both ways before crossing the street, or active runway in this matter?”
That job rests within the airport’s Control Tower, more specifically with the Ground Control personnel. Directing traffic on the ground, as their name would imply, is their primary responsibility. Those in the fire truck trusted that ground control had established a clear path for them to proceed to another part of the airport to deal with a different aircraft that was in need of assistance.
When the aircraft was landing the pilot was still on the tower frequency to communicate with controllers handling inbound traffic. Once the plane has cleared the runway the pilot would switch the radio over to the ground control frequency to receive taxi instructions for how to proceed to the flight’s assigned passenger terminal gate. These instructions would include which runways and taxiways to cross, and which runways and or taxiways to stop at, and wait for crossing instructions.
That’s exactly right… air traffic communications and ground traffic communications are on two totally separate frequencies.
Except when crossing a runway. That’s on Tower for obvious reasons. So… Everybody can hear what’s going on.
I look both ways when entering a one way street….and do it twice….
You just never know……
Yup, and what was smelling in the emergency plane.
If it didn’t stink this would not have occurred.
Amen.
Years ago I kept telling my young son to look both ways riding out the driveway on his bike. Then I saw our cat Lucky handle it. When I noticed the cat about to cross back I told my son to watch what the cat did. Lucky stopped, looked bothways twice, then crossed. We should have named him Smarty, but my son started looking both ways, twice.
I built my third house in an 1800’s railroad station on a active track.
I watched DF’s get tee-boned. It’s impressive when a railroad train doing 60 or so whacks a F150. Once when the lights weren’t working called the railroad office and their reply was “if they can’t see a train, hear the horn, and see that big bright light, the signals don’t mean much.
I ALWAYS look both directions twice and if it pisses off the idjit behind me I may have just saved his life.
My stick time is limited to little airplanes and country airfields but even there it can have intense moments. Especially high wing low wing conflicts.
If the cop directing traffic tells you to go, you go. ATC is the traffic cop for this situation. ATC told the firetruck it was safe to go.
Good lemming, good lemming.
Personally, when I see that “straggler” intentionally running their red light I start to pull ahead on my green light and give ’em a “lil’ scare” – as well as the middle finger. Maybe, just maybe, the idiot will quit running red lights, is my thinking. Is that wrong?
I’d like to hear a longer version of the ATC recordings. The version out there now appears to be edited for time and it distorts how quickly things happened in relation to one another.
Listen to Vas Aviation on YT for the long version.
Maybe I heard it wrong, ATC was calling for Truck 1 to stop, stop. Truck laying on the ground is Truck 35.
Part of the problem here is that the truck was on the ground control frequency being controlled likely by a ground controller, whereas the aircraft was talking to the tower air traffic controller who was on another frequency and had given the plane clearance to land. The pilot handling the radios may not have switched to the ground control frequency yet since the plane was still on rollout after touching down. Thus, the crew is not likely to have heard ground control clearing the truck to cross the active runway. The controller handling the ground control call to the truck will likely be found at fault, since he should not have cleared the truck to enter the runway with the aircraft about to touch down. Visibility may be a contributing factor.
What caused the stink in the emergency airplane ?
Ground traffic controller made the error
Which media source will be the first to report the President’s comments as callous or uncaring? I suspect it to be a DEI result.
Horrific. I can’t even imagine.
Reminds me of the girl, Julianne Koepkne, who in the 70’s was in an airplane in South America, plane struck by lightning, plane disintegrates over the Amazon jungle, she alone survives strapped into her seat, having plunged about 10K+ feet. And managed on her own for 10 days to reach civilization. Sometimes God wants you on Earth longer than you might expect.
Thank You for reminder. Had forgotten about that girl. Was a miracle she survived eating bugs and drinking nasty water if IRC…
And likewise, here are two pilots on their approach after their uneventful, routine flight, probably with plans for a night in the Big Apple….
You never know the day…
I pray the realization for them was mercifully short.
I remember watching an interview of a man recently. I think he was an engineer and doing missionary work in Ecuador or Peru. He gets told the local gang there doesn’t want him visiting the natives. He goes anyway. The gang kidnapped him, their boss putting him on an airplane, and tossing him out a few thousand feet above the ground. He survived without breaking any bones, and his glasses were still intact in his shirt pocket!
Stumbled out, and found the village he was going to. Many people there converted because of his miraculous survival. Boss of the gang starts hearing stories of a man who fell from the sky, and ended up converting to Christianity because of that. He was later being sentenced to prison later, and he asked to speak to the person who he tried to kill, and told him about his conversion. I wish I could remember where I saw the interview. He was definitely protected.
The collapse of complex systems continues unabated.
More the people either overworked or undertrained than the equipment. But yes, the complexity isn’t making things easier in all sorts of areas.
A few yrs back, Darren Beatttie, Revolver News was pushing this theory based around DEI and the inclusion of incompetence into long established functioning systems.
https://www.palladiummag.com/2023/06/01/complex-systems-wont-survive-the-competence-crisis/
Fully agree. An unadvanced people cannot maintain an advanced civilization. Tragic incidents like these are the lamplights along the path to the neo-preindustrial age.
“An unadvanced people cannot maintain an advanced civilization.” Such a powerful and truthful statement.
Plenty of H1-B visas keeping things under budget and on schedule. Safety? Well that’s someone else’s job.
People aren’t careful enough anymore. It’s always “my bad” and the on to cause their next disaster. They’re as careless as they are stupid. All they do is wave their flag du jour and all is forgiven.
The aircraft was going much faster than the reported 24mph, which is not surprising.
Also pay attention to how many lights there are around a tarmac at night. It’s virtually impossible for a driver or to pick out a set of blinking and moving lights from all the other blinking and moving lights, especially ones moving over 100 mph at right angles to his field of vision. The flight crew is also going to have a near-zero ability to see any obstructions, even lighted ones, on a runway before a go-around becomes impossible.
The responsibility in this instance is on ATC to make sure the runway is cleared for crossing. In the recordings the ATC all but admits he got distracted by another situation and lost situational awareness. FAA/NTSB will likely determine that distraction was the primary cause of this incident. A high work load, poor visibility and weather conditions, and possibly fatigue at the end of a shift may have contributed as well.
Until more is learned about the controller, I’ll leave questions about proper training and qualifications aside for now.
This reminds me of the crash between the helicopter and the airliner in D.C. a few years ago… e.g., the number of visual distractions that were present that could have contributed to either vehicle not recognizing the other one.
If the background of the controller is kept concealed, we’ll know DEI caused more needless deaths.
Some form of the Coulter rule…
He sounded nonchalant and inattentive.
That crash was January of 2025. Not that long ago.
Helo was “training “.
I think I would avoid any NYC airport.
I hear Newark is bad. Boston has had a number of similar close calls in recent years, but since it’s my “local” airport it’s hard to know if Logan has more than average.
Not to be dismissive of problems due to under-qualified or poorly-trained controllers, a major contributor to the risk of such incidents is due to the amount of ground traffic, from both land vehicles and planes, crossing or accessing active runways. There’s too much going on in spaces that are too small, and it’s being monitored by too few people.
The FAA has attempted to correct the problem making changes to delegations of responsibility, but clearly not enough has been done. Either the tempo of runway operations needs to be reduced, or there needs to be a complete overhaul of safety measures for entering and exiting active runways. If neither happens there will be another Tenerife, and we’re probably lucky that none of the near-misses have turned into one so far.
I would avoid Atlanta, Newark and Philly…at all costs…
Re “I think I would avoid any NYC airport.”
I will avoid NYC, period…
Until more is learned about the controller, I’ll leave questions about proper training and qualifications aside for now.
Excellent council!
Please explain your professional background and authority to make these ASSumptions, because, respectfully, it clearly has little to do with aviation.
I think I hear your mother calling you up from the basement to go to bed.
“Nite Timmy!
In the future, I would recommend not typing out things such as “ASSumptions” and then using the word “respectfully” two words later.
Doing so, as well as repeatedly calling others “bums,” tends to leave an impression that witty banter and enlightening debate is probably not on the menu between the fish and salad courses, and therefore it is not worth one’s time to engage in conversation with you.
If this incident is personal to you or some past event in your life- as it appears it might be from your peculiarly emotional responses- then you have my condolences as well as my advice to step back until you have regained your composure and are capable of engaging in rational discussion.
Prayers for the families of the pilots and a full recovery for the flight attendant……God how horrific!
Amen.
The firetruck driver couldn’t look to his right?
I imagine he could-
However, you might notice his vehicle’s Emergency lights were ON and flashing –
Also, as well- other background vehicles with lights flashing.
He may likely have been enroute from an emergency- and concentrating on driving since, in such a case, vehicles might be under control of tower personnel – especially, at night.
A tragedy 🙏
“The firetruck driver couldn’t look to his right?”
The firetruck driver would be operating with clearance to proceed without stopping at the runway crossing. The ground controller likely had given these instructions after the pilot had been told his flight was cleared to land on that runway. Two different controllers giving different instructions to different operations.
Note that once cleared to land, landing aircraft have the right of way. Also, the pilot would not yet be monitoring the ground control radio frequency, as the pilot stays with the arrival controller in the event a rejected landing occurs, and the pilot must take off immediately. This would be the case if the pilot had seen the fire truck AND had the time to abort the landing.
Exactly right… air traffic communications and ground traffic communications are handled by two totally separate crews on separate frequencies. Inbound aircraft don’t switch radios to Ground Control until they are looking for a taxiway.
That’s what I said. Don’t airplanes have big lights on the front so they can see the runway in front of them when they land?
UNBELIEVABLE !!! And yet it happens … I’ve seen a couple of ground “near misses” like this, but never an “actual” collision …
Early, early guesstimate:
The jet appears to be just landing/touching down, so she’s probably doing 130-100 Knots or so … that’s quite fast for a ground encounter w/ a “heavy” fire truck or most other vehicles …
I’ve not flown this particular regional jet, so my airspeed “guesstimate” is based upon other jet aircraft in a similar evolution, both military and Boeing/Douglas civilian birds, and acquired over the span of >30K flight hours …
Lots of “lights” … some flashing, some not … appears to be “wet” … the truck appears to be “turning” in the same direction as the jet is rolling out — all of that “could” have a negative iimpact on visibility. And we don’t have any ATC radio comm (tower or ground) to hear any instructions that may have been given to plane or truck … so ground or tower controllers “could” have been directly involved in this terrible mishap, too …
It’s way, way too early to arrive at any conclusion(s), but it looks like a confluence of events that ended up in a “bad day” … very sad and probably unnecessary by virtue of several “forced errors” … ???
What I read is that there was a United aircraft that just had two rejected take offs and was sitting out on a taxiway. The ARRF truck was responding to that as emergency. I could see the personnel on the truck might be looking for where that aircraft might be, and when directed to cross RWY 4 on TWY Delta (crosses at an angle) did so not thinking LGA Tower would have cleared JAZZ to land.
But it’s great to know we don’t need NTSB as so many posters here already know DEI is to blame.
Right you are … and FWIW … I heard a YouTube critique of the incident this afternoon (from a retired UAL pilot who does this in ‘retirement’, I suppose) and he basically confirmed most/all of my early “guesstimates” … and the landing A/C and the “emergency” ARRF truck were quite possibly (probably ??? ) on different freqs. … which usually results in less than desirable endings … BTDT and seen the results … and it happens ALL THE TIME w/ these kind of “incidents” …
If the rejected take off plane was just sitting there, was it really an emergency. What happens at an airport that has an emergency aircraft on or near a runway.
Without looking it up again, I believe I saw where after the 2nd “aborted takeoff” by the aircraft you’re referring to, the crew “smelled something” — could have been the beginning of a fire ??? — and they declared an emergency …
Right decision or not-so-right … that’s their call — we weren’t there. But if they went the route of “we need some help here” to be on the anticipatory side of the problem, them who can really criticism them … ???
Certainly not I … hopes that helps with your question … ???
That picture perfectly represents what’s left of everything politicians touch.
As the years go by…..
1. Technology becomes more complex and less reliable.
2. Our public education cartel (K-infinity) pushes out students who are dumber and dumber.
3. Government bureaucracy gets way bigger, way more powerful, and way less competent.
What could possibly go wrong?
Murphy law and human error will always play the dominant role in the activities of humanity.
ALWAYS…
PRAISES!
“first officers” aka pilots, fly the plane every other leg, 😀
Another fine example of reporting and how thorough – accurate it is……
Failure of Tower and Fire. Both were in a position to prevent this.
Another terrible tragedy that should not have happened. Thx DNC
Has the reason been explained for the fire truck crossing at that moment with an airplane about to land ?
The truck had been dispatched to another emergency: a plane had just aborted take-off and there was a smell of smoke in the cabin. The driver requested authorization to cross the runway, and the controller cleared him to do so. Moments later the controller realized a collision was imminent and ordered the driver to stop, but it was too late as the truck had already begun crossing.
There were a couple of somewhat unusual things under way in the few minutes leading up to the crash. The firetruck had been dispatched to an aircraft that had aborted and wanted to get back to a gate but there were none free. Then that plane missed a turn and had to stop in an unusual spot. The firetruck was on its way there. 6-minute lead-up here:
https://xcancel.com/ryangerritsen/status/2036073796088611315#m
Fire truck was en-route to an emergency call on the other side of the runway. ATC cleared the firetruck to cross active runway, realizes the mistake and tries to rectify. Sadly, too late.
air traffic controller cleared the fire truck to cross the runway
Praying. Just so sad. Hopefully, there are Airport Cameras video – to show more of what happened with the Fire Trucks being on the field. And what is the Fire Department Training is for these kind of incidents?
Praying for all those were there (on and off the plane, in the Radio Tower, etc. and those who witnessed and experienced this horrific crash. The consequences of a clear lack of corrdination and communication with Fire Departments, Police, Airport personnel, etc. need to be investigated and protocols implemented to prevent this from happening at any airport again.
Put transponders on airport vehicles
Put competent controllers in the towers.
2 rejected, reportedly, takeoffs and a smell. Me thinks this is a classic chain of errors.
If the smelly plane was on fire, that PIC would have had his passengers go down the ramps. Good thing it wasn’t on fire.
I would like to thank pete buttplug serving during o’biden’s admin for hiring the best folks for the jobs, and making our airports safer
I just talked with him, he said you’re welcome. /s
The plane is destroyed when it hit a fire truck? The fire truck must be rubble at best.
Well the bulk density of a loaded firetruck is likely in the 800kg/m3 range, but the partly-loaded plane is probably more like a mere 8kg/m3.
airplane hulls are an eggshell, structurally
they’re not engineered to run into things, they’re engineered for lightness
you know … so they can get off the ground
That seems like a miracle!
pilots were first at the scene of the crash
I reckon
Might be a tad too soon for black humor.
yeah, I won’t disagree
Im never undoing my seatbelt
In 1971, 17-year-old Juliane Koepcke survived a 10,000-foot fall into the Peruvian Amazon after her plane disintegrated, becoming the sole survivor of 92 passengers on LANSA Flight 508. Still strapped to her seat, she endured 11 days in the jungle with a broken collarbone, severe cuts, and maggot-infested wounds, using survival skills learned from her biologist parents to find her way to safety.
Old man with old bladder I have to get up but otherwise belt stays on.
Was on a flight with wife and I was looking out the port narating to wife what was happening when mr. know it all behind us let out a loud guffaw clearing making fun of my narrative.
Shortly after we find some CAT and mr know it all slams head into overhead.
I probably shoudn’t have but I laughed with similar gauffwaw.
Just interesting to note that a young adult book recounting Juliane Koepcke’s survival story was just released last week: “Follow the Water” by Ellen Cochrane. The timing of this Air Canada accident and remembering Juliane’s amazing story can only boost sales for author Cochrane.
Im never undoing my seatbelt
Why? I’d rather be with Jesus, than going through a jungle for 11 days.
You can do both.
That’s very good, but you know what I mean. I’d rather be in Heaven.
If anyone is looking for additional info & understanding.. Captain Steve, recently retired airline pilot and former military pilot, on You Tube gives his *professional* take on what he believes has happened.
(didn’t link just go to Capt Steve on YT).
Thanks for the link ncxplant! Just watched Captain Steve’s take, learned a lot. Especially about La Guardia and its runway 4.
https://www.tampafp.com/biden-faa-pushing-diversity-hiring-as-air-traffic/
Biden’s push for diversity at the FAA.
Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg has established a goal of hiring employees with severe disabilities at a rate of 3% per fiscal year, according to the FAA’s People with Disabilities Program website. These disabilities include total deafness, blindness, missing limbs, paralysis, epilepsy and dwarfism….
Also:
Mountain States Legal Foundation sued on behalf of plaintiff Andrew Brigida and over 2,000 other air traffic controller applicants who had test scores invalidated due to former President Barack Obama’s 2015 FAA diversity policy intended to hire more minorities. The lawsuit became class-action certified in 2022.
The disabled weren’t necessarily hired for air traffic control, but one wonders how many in this overall “diversity” pool were hired over more qualified applicants.
CBC tried to blame President Trump, but the retired Air Traffic Controller corrected him, saying that there always has been shortage of controllers.
What happened with the flight attendant? Did she fly out from the cockpit and land somewhere? That’s pretty crazy.
This is the most curious part of the story. I assume she’s one of the remaining nine patients in serious condition, but it will be interesting to hear her description someday of this night.
“Video of the horrific crash has been released to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)”
Fastest release of video in history.
Somethings fishy.
You cannot absolve the driver of the fire truck of his responsibility to operate a vehicle safely in a dangerous area of high-speed jet aircraft landings.
The driver of the fire truck should have stopped and looked carefully toward the approach end of the runway before proceeding. These jet airliners touch down at speeds over 100 miles per hour and are “nose-high” at touch-down which obscures a view of any unexpected ground vehicle.
Neither a pilot nor a truck driver on the airport are absolved of a duty to be VERY careful in the dangerous environment.
I have ferried railroad crews to and from trains in an SUV. When you are driving an SUV around switchyards, you must always be vigilant as the trains cannot stop on a dime.
As the wife of a retired RR engineer, thank you for doing your part to transport RRers safely to and fro.
We have been promised a thoroughly modernized and revamped ATC system. No word on that for quite some time.
What are the chances that the ejected flight attendant lands in such a way that her life is preserved?
Well, there’s no such as chance, now is there?
Praise God for her and her family’s sake.
Miraculous the flight attendant survived.
Back in 2013 the crash of Asiana Airlines Flight 214 upon landing at SFO, four flight attendants were thrown onto the runway while still strapped in their seats when the tail section broke off after striking the seawall short of the runway. They survived, but with serious injuries.
A row of passenger seats was left hanging out of the aircraft. Two passengers who were not wearing their seatbelts were ejected from the aircraft and killed. Another who was belted in survived.
One of the passengers who was ejected survived the crash, survived the ejection onto the runway but was run over and killed by fire equipment responding to the crash.
https://www.firefighterclosecalls.com/crash-truck-did-run-over-girl-but-how-did-body-get-there-sf-plane-crash-she-was-alive-at-the-time/
There is still something God wants this young lady to do.
In traffic, I always glance to the right and left as I cross over a roadway even when I have the right of way. I thought that was instinctual. It has stopped me from hitting bicyclists (who seem to have no concept of rules of the road anymore) in the very least. This person in the fire truck did not really have the right of way and should have looked both ways before crossing the runway. A weird smell does not trump a landing plane, in my estimation.
Age 82. PA driver’s license at 16. Performance and written test against temporary driver license status, based on printed + performance components. “Left, right, left,” has saved my bacon repeatedly/never failed me, despite mockery from many more “up-to-date” youngsters–at least so far.
Yes, look left first since that’s the usual direction from which traffic in the near lane will approach in the US. That was taught in defensive driving courses in the 70’s provided to firemen in our area.
The plane is obviously taller than the firetruck, and the video shows the airplane nose lift on impact, shearing the underbelly. This height difference is probably what saved the lives of the fire crew, and what doomed the pilots. Shocking that more lives weren’t lost.
This lucky flight attendant was found still strapped in her seat after it was ejected from the aircraft. Where exactly was she found? Far flung, or just below the aircraft? Her seat may have just dropped straight down, once its underlying supports were sheared off.
The plane carried a crew of 4. The 2 pilots, this flight attendant still in her seat, and presumably a second flight attendant. Have not seen any reports of his or her condition, which I pray is a good sign.
It appears that the pilots could not have averted this tragedy. Ditto for the crew in the firetruck. ATC is another story.
My question: ATC gives the pilots the “all clear” to land on a given runway. How far in advance is that directive given? Would it have been before the firetruck was also given the “all clear” to cross the same runway?
Tragedy all around. God bless these dead pilots and their grieving families, and may he grant the wounded a speedy recovery.
Blancolirio’s expert opinion detailing the events.
“Be alert to Runway Crossing Clearances” is written across the bottom of his diagram.
Vasaviation
After they’re done cutting every tree down in the country and replacing them with wall to wall data centers where do we get the lumber then? Here in Pennsylvania they are flattening every mountain and turning all our farmland into a pile of crap.There won’t be an inch that won’t be covered by these ugly monstrosites
I’ve been thinking about this all day, the ATC immediately recognized his error when it was too late to get the attention of the fire truck driver.
But. If he had got his attention, and the driver slowed up just a bit but not enough to avoid the collision, the nose of the plane would have struck the cab killing the firemen rather than broadsiding it, collapsing the thin aluminum nose of the plane but leaving the truck driver alive.
So who gave the firetruck the ok to cross an active runway?
Remember when they claimed a plane took down a skyscraper… now look at the plane after it hit a fire truck and ask yourself how believable that story is.
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Fox is reporting the black boxes have been found…
AS far as the flight attendant being found in her seat, belted in…says a lot for the seat belt function.
Praying for all….
I’ve been reading a lot of speculation that many of the persons who were injured were injured as a result of removing their seat belts prematurely, before the plane had stopped at a gate.
And one of the passengers who was interviewed said people were flying everywhere so that seems likely.
I agree. A lot of people unbuckle as soon as the plane lands and slows down a bit. What could possibly go wrong?
I never unbuckle during the flight and not until the pilot tells me that it is safe to do so.
The head on the swivel rule was obviously not followed by the truck driver. A combination of human errors.
They’re now saying jet speed at impact ~ 100mph. I’ve read everything from 24mph to 130 mph…
I cannot imagine a scenario where a fire truck has the right of way over an aircraft that is landing.
What a horrific mess.
It was a miracle the plane didn’t catch fire upon impact. Many lives were saved for this reason. I pray for the victims of this horrible tragedy and their loved ones.
I used to be a flight attendant on the CRJ 90. The forward flight attendant’s jumpseat is next to the main cabin door and directly in front of the flight deck. The aft flight attendant would be in the back, last row. LGA is an extremely busy airport, basically organized chaos. The entire time I flew RJ’s here was not a single incident and in the last year, three. DCA, Toronto, and now this. Prayers to all involved. And yes it’s a miracle because she was seated only 4 feet away from the pilots.
What a horrible photo. Such a tragedy. Praying for the swift recovery of the injured, and for the Air Traffic Controller involved. He must be devastated.
I’m a private pilot. I’ve only listened to brief snippets of the communication but it appears the fire truck was cleared to cross, then the controller realized the mistake and appeared to stop the clearance. I think it’s crazy to allow ground vehicles to access any part of the airfield that could conflict with aircraft traffic landing or taking off on the active runway, controlled airfields or not. Take the truck to an intersection near the end of the active runway, for crying out loud It only takes an extra couple of minutes and would ease the pressure put on the ground and tower controllers,(although I heard unconfirmed reports that he was doing double duty) At an airport and airspace like LGA that is incomprehensible. The NSTB report will tell. Maybe Hoover at Pilot Debrief will weigh in prior to the report.
A miracle. Undeniable.