Standard procedure quickly turns to panic in chilling audio from the air traffic control tower at New York’s LaGuardia Airport in the brief moments just before and after the fatal Air Canada crash late Sunday night.
“Stop, stop, stop,” a panic-stricken air traffic controller repeated to the driver of the fire truck that collided with the jet as it landed on the runway.
The pilot and co-pilot were both killed in the collision and 39 of the 72 passengers were sent to the hospital, nine of whom remain in care, some in critical condition.
According to the recording at LiveATC.net, the driver of an airport fire truck, identified as “truck one and company,” contacts the tower to request permission to cross runway four “at delta.” The controller gives him permission and, as the driver confirms he’s starting to cross, the controller asks another flight, Frontier 4195, to stop.
“Stop, stop, stop, stop, truck one, stop, stop, stop,” the controller says abruptly, alarm evident in his voice. “Stop, stop, stop.”
“Stop truck one. Stop,” he says twice, clearly panicked as an alarm intensifies behind him before the recording goes quiet.
When it returns, more alarms are blaring as the controller diverts a Delta Airlines flight away from the runway.
“Jazz 646,” he says to the cockpit of the Air Canada Express CRJ-900 jet, “Jazz 646, I see you collided with a vehicle there. Just hold position. I know you can’t move. Vehicles are responding to you now.”
The audio continues with frantic efforts to divert aircraft from the now closed runway and onto others before another man’s voice eventually chimes in to inform all parties that “LaGuardia Airport is closed at this time.”
Kathryn Garcia, executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs the airport, said two of their employees in the truck suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
The truck and its occupants were responding to a strange odour in another aircraft somewhere on the tarmac that was making flight attendants feel ill.
The flight was arriving from Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport in Montreal.
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board is leading the investigation and Canada’s Transportation Safety Board said Monday morning it was
dispatching a “team of investigators”
to assist.
Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Ananda said on X that Canadian consular officials are liaising with authorities in New York and providing assistance to passengers.
“An additional consular team is en route to New York to support those affected,” she wrote.
I reiterate my profound and utter sadness at the loss of two pilots during this tragic accident. I am thinking of their families and friends, as well as the passengers on board, including those who were injured. I am also thinking about the broader aviation community who are… https://t.co/VkXDMDpZLF
— Anita Anand (@AnitaAnandMP) March 23, 2026
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