An Air Canada Bombardier CRJ-900 hit a fire-and-rescue truck while landing at the LaGuardia Airport (LGA) on Sunday night.
The collision happened as ATC and the fire-rescue vehicle were responding to a separate incident involving United Airlines Flight 2384 having to abort its takeoff when the anti-ice warning light came on and an unknown odor filled the cabin, according to CBS News. At 11:37 p.m. EST, the truck, referred to as Truck 1, requested permission to cross Runway 4 at the intersection of taxiway D, and was cleared by ATC. A controller came back on the radio a few seconds later, warning the truck to stop.
"Stop, stop, stop, stop Truck 1, stop, stop, stop…Stop Truck 1, stop. Stop, Truck 1, stop!" said the controller on the ATC radio recordings.
The CRJ-900 struck the vehicle at a speed of about 24 mph, according to the Economic Times. It had 72 passengers and four crew members on board. Both the pilot and co-pilot were killed and 41 victims, including two from the firefighting vehicle, were injured and taken to nearby hospitals. The impact crushed the jet's nose and destroyed the cockpit, according to AP News. Frontier Airlines flight 4195 was instructed through the radio to return to the ramp as the airport was closed.
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"That was…that wasn't good to watch," said the Frontier pilot on the radio.
"Yeah, I know, I was here," said the air traffic controller. "I tried to reach out to my staff, and we were dealing with an emergency earlier and I messed up."
"No man, you did the best you could," said the pilot.
LGA remained closed until 2 p.m., with flights being diverted to John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) and Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR).