A chilling LiveATC audio has emerged revealing the tense moments before an Air Canada plane collided with a fire truck at LaGuardia Airport on Sunday. The two pilots were killed; at least 41 passengers and crew were taken to hospital. Two police officers in the fire truck suffered broken bones.
In the recording, an air traffic controller can be heard first granting the vehicle permission to cross the runway, then urgently ordering it to stop seconds before impact: “Truck 1, stop, stop, stop. Stop Truck 1. Stop.” Moments after the collision, the controller tells the flight, “Jazz 646, I see you collided with the vehicle. Just hold position. I know you can’t move. Vehicles are responding to you now.”
The controller also immediately instructed an incoming Frontier Airlines flight to divert. The Frontier pilot responded, “That wasn’t good to watch.” The controller then says, “I tried to reach out to stop them. We were dealing with an emergency earlier and I messed up.” The Frontier pilot replies, “No, you did the best you could,” attempting reassurance.
Viral videos from the scene showed severe damage to the front fuselage and debris hanging from the cockpit area.
