Cockpit audio reveals final three minutes of tragic Air Canada flight crash
Audio recordings recovered from the cockpit of a plane that crashed into a fire truck at LaGuardia Airport in New York on Sunday (22 March) have allowed investigators to piece together the final three minutes of the flight.
The pilots of the aircraft were killed after Air Canada Express Flight 8646 operated by Jazz Aviation collided with a fire truck on the runway.
Passengers paid tribute to them saying they believe the two men 'deserve all the credit for being heroes that day'.
Recordings from air traffic control at the time of the crash have helped shed light on the tragic events, and investigators who recovered the plane's own cockpit recordings have been able to establish a timeline of events.
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Speaking at a press conference yesterday, NTSB senior aviation investigator Doug Brazy laid out the series of events which resulted in the fatal crash.
Beginning three minutes and seven seconds before the end of the recording, Brazy said the pilots were told to contact the airport's tower.
- Three minutes and seven seconds - Pilots from Flight 8646 were told to contact LaGuardia Airport's tower
- Two minutes and 45 seconds - The plane lowered its landing gear
- Two minutes and 22 seconds - The flight crew checked in with the LaGuardia Airport tower
- Two minutes and 17 seconds - LaGuardia Airport tower cleared Flight 8646 for landing at runway four
- One minute and 26 seconds - Flight 8648 reaches an altitude of 1,000ft
- One minute and 12 seconds - Pilots confirmed the landing checklist had been completed.
- One minute and three seconds - A vehicle in the airport made a transmission to the tower which investigators said was 'stepped on', meaning interrupted, by an unidentified radio transmission
- 54 seconds - Flight crew acknowledged reaching an altitude of 500ft
- 40 seconds - LaGuardia tower asks which vehicle needs to cross a runway
- 28 seconds - Truck 1 makes a radio transmission to the tower and requests to cross LaGuardia's fourth runway
- 20 seconds - LaGuardia tower clears Truck 1 to cross runway four
- 19 seconds - Flight 8646 reaches an altitude of 100ft
- Nine seconds - LaGuardia tower orders Truck 1 to stop
- Eight seconds - Flight 8646 touches down on the runway
- Six seconds - One of the pilots on Flight 8646 transfers control of the aircraft to the other
- Four seconds - LaGuardia tower again instructs Truck 1 to stop
- Zero seconds - Recording ends
Air Canada crash: what we know so far
Where did the crash happen?
On the evening of 22 March, an Air Canada Express plane arrived at New York's LaGuardia airport from Montreal. At around 11.45pm ET on Runway 4, the Bombardier CRJ-900 twin-jet aircraft collided with a fire engine.
How many passengers were on board the aircraft?
Jazz Aviation, which operates as Air Canada Express, confirmed Flight 8646 from Montreal to LaGuardia was involved in the incident and said 72 passengers and four crew members were on board.
Confirmed deaths and injuries
Kathryn Garcia, the Port Authority Executive Director, said during a news conference that the 'two pilots of the aircraft are confirmed deceased'.
She also confirmed that 41 passengers and crew were taken to hospital, along with the two firefighters inside the vehicle that was hit by the aircraft.
It is said the two officers remain in stable condition.
One of the injured was flight attendant Solange Tremblay, who had been flung from the aircraft as she had been sitting in the jump seat.
Her daughter confirmed Tremblay had survived the crash without major injuries.
An investigation is underway
During the news conference, Garcia gave a couple of specifics that the National Transportation Safety Board will look at, including:
- The speed at which the plane was moving when it collided with the vehicle
- The staffing of the air traffic control tower at the time
- If anybody was ejected from the aircraft
Are flights leaving and arriving at LaGuardia Airport delayed or cancelled?
All flights arriving and departing from LaGuardia, one of the US' busiest airports, were cancelled or delayed the day after the crash, the BBC reports.
Arrivals and departures appear to be back on schedule at the time of writing.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks out
Offering his condolences to the victims, their families and all those affected by the crash, Carney wrote on X: "The collision involving an Air Canada Express aircraft last night in New York that claimed the lives of the pilot and co-pilot, and injured dozens more, is deeply saddening.
"Canadian officials are working closely with their U.S. counterparts on the ground as the investigation continues. My thoughts are with the victims, their families, and all those impacted."
The two pilots identified
The pilots who sadly died in the crash have been identified as Antoine Forest, 30, and Mackenzie Gunther
The Toronto Star reports that Forest, from Coteau-du-Lac, Québec, was identified by his family, while the BBC reported that Gunther graduated from Seneca Polytechnic in Toronto in 2023 where flags were flown at half mast in his memory.
"These were two young men at the start of their career, so it's an absolute tragedy that we're sitting here with their loss," Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) administrator Bran Bedford said.
Joe Harker