Clément Lelièvre says the pilots of the Air Canada jet that collided with a hearth truck on a runway at New York’s LaGuardia Airport seemingly saved his life and the lives of different passengers late Sunday evening.
The pilot and co-pilot of Flight AC8646 have been killed within the collision, which despatched 41 folks to hospital and injured others, like Lelièvre, who have been handled on the scene.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 2 are dead after an Air Canada plane from Montreal crashed at New York’s LaGuardia Airport
“Simply because the aircraft touched down, the pilot braked extraordinarily laborious,” Lelièvre, a French nationwide and frequent flyer, informed The Canadian Press on Monday.
“I do not know the circumstances, however I believe he sort of saved our lives as a result of he should have had unimaginable reflexes.”
Catastrophe struck shortly after 11:30 p.m. Sunday because the aircraft — operated by Air Canada Specific provider Jazz Aviation — touched down after its journey from Montréal Trudeau Worldwide Airport.
Of the 41 folks transported to 2 hospitals in Queens, 9 have been nonetheless in care, together with some in critical situation, Kathryn Garcia, government director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, informed a information convention early Monday morning.
The crash
Within the moments earlier than the collision, a firefighting truck was responding to a separate incident on a United Airways flight that had aborted its takeoff and reported an odd odour on board.
Air site visitors management recordings urged the odour on the aircraft had made some flight attendants really feel in poor health. LaGuardia controllers have been additionally mobilizing a stair truck in case the aircraft wanted to let folks off.
One air site visitors management might be heard on a radio transmission giving clearance to a automobile to cross a part of the tarmac, then attempting to cease it.
“Cease, Truck 1. Cease,” the transmission says. The controller can then be heard frantically diverting incoming plane from touchdown.
Within the aftermath of the collision, one staffer sought to console one other. “That wasn’t good to observe,” says one.
“I do know. I attempted to achieve out,” says the second individual. “We have been coping with an emergency earlier.”
“You probably did the very best you can,” says the primary.
The evacuation
Lelièvre stated passengers escaped by way of emergency exit doorways, hopping off the wings to the bottom. Everybody helped one another get out, he stated. He had accidents to his head and knee that have been handled on the tarmac. Lelièvre stated he noticed passengers bleeding, some with head accidents.
“Nicely, surprisingly sufficient, I wasn’t scared or panicked. Quite the opposite, I believe most of us have been fairly conscious of what occurred. So all of us went outdoors, we received different folks out,” Lelièvre stated.
“On the time, it was OK, however then round 4 or 5 within the morning, when the adrenaline had worn off a bit, we realized that this does not occur on daily basis.”
Photographs from the scene confirmed the jetliner on the bottom, surrounded by crimson rescue automobiles, within the glare of moveable floodlights.
An Air Canada Jet sits on the runway at LaGuardia Airport, Monday, March 23, 2026, after colliding with a Port Authority plane rescue and firefighting automobile in New York. Ryan Murphy | AP Photograph
It sat on its tail, its crumpled nostril pointed towards the sky, the cockpit peeled again all the best way again to the facet home windows, exposing a shredded tangle of wires and flight controls.
Stairways used to evacuate passengers from plane have been seen pushed as much as the emergency exits on the white jet. A closely broken neon yellow fireplace truck was seen close by, laying on its facet.
A Port Authority plane rescue and firefighting automobile lays on its facet off of runway 4 after colliding with an Air Canada jet after it landed at LaGuardia Airport, Monday, March 23, 2026, in New York. Ryan Murphy | AP Photograph
Two Port Authority staff travelling within the fireplace truck suffered non-life-threatening accidents, Garcia stated.
Christopher Pal, a professor at Polytechnique Montreal, was among the many passengers who managed to flee the aircraft after the crash, his spouse Sarah Dorner stated in an interview.
“He misplaced his glasses, he smashed his face into the seat in entrance of him,” Dorner stated, describing his accidents as some bruising round his eyes.
She stated her husband referred to as her shortly after the crash and informed her how one other passenger opened an emergency door close to the wing.
“So he was capable of climb onto the wing and slide off the wing to get off,” Dorner stated. “There was there’s nonetheless a drop, so a number of the passengers have been hesitating as a result of not everyone seems to be within the form that you simply wish to simply bounce off of a wing.”
Dorner stated Pal was encouraging them to evacuate at a faster tempo and there was a odor of gasoline within the air.
“He stated he was standing outdoors saying, ‘Come on, I am going to catch you. Simply slide down. I am going to catch you. I am right here for you,'” Dorner stated. “I might hear it in his voice that it was fairly a stunning occasion, however he was happy that he was capable of to assist different folks out.”
She added that her husband postponed his scheduled conferences and spent the day resting in New York.
The aftermath
In an announcement, Air Canada stated it has officers en path to LaGuardia to help within the investigation, including, “We’re deeply saddened by the lack of two Jazz staff, and our deepest condolences exit to all the Jazz group and their households.”
Early Monday, some passengers who had arrived at LaGuardia hours earlier than their flights hoping to beat safety traces throughout the ongoing authorities funding lapse straggled out of the airport, rebooked for Tuesday. Others have been hastening to different airports, so far as Lengthy Island MacArthur in suburban Ronkonkoma, to attempt to catch their flights.
Garcia stated the airport was to stay closed till at the least 2 p.m. Monday to facilitate the investigation, which was being led by the U.S. transportation security board. The Transportation Security Board of Canada stated Monday it was deploying a staff of investigators to help the American company.
Firefighters and investigators study the positioning, Monday, March 23, 2026, the place an Air Canada jet got here to relaxation after colliding with a Port Authority firetruck at LaGuardia Airport, after touchdown Sunday evening in New York.Seth Wenig | AP Photograph
On social media, Canadian Transport Minister Steven McKinnon wrote that Canada is working carefully with U.S. authorities as they examine. “Aviation security stays our highest precedence,” he stated.
Designed to hold 76 to 90 passengers for short- and medium-haul routes, the CRJ-900 is taken into account a workhorse feeder jet historically linking areas to greater hub airports. The plane has a slender, lengthy fuselage, two-rear mounted turbofan engines and a T-shaped tail — the horizontal stabilizer sits excessive on the vertical fin.
LaGuardia is without doubt one of the three main airports serving the New York Metropolis area. Positioned within the borough of Queens, it sits on the sting of Flushing Bay, east of Manhattan, with two fundamental intersecting runways. This can be very busy given its proximity to Manhattan and handles a heavy load of principally home flights.
LaGuardia was nineteenth busiest in 2024 out of greater than 500 U.S. airports, with over 16.7 million passengers boarding there, in response to a 2025 FAA database.
The report by The Canadian Press was first printed March 23, 2026.
— With recordsdata from Aaron Sousa, Nick Murray, Dean Bennett and The Related Press