From there, operations appear to grind to a halt. By 11:42, the recording says that the airport had shut down due to an active incident on the field. The dispatcher told the crew to wait and check back in ten minutes.
The shutdown continued well beyond the immediate aftermath. At 18:08, another message states, “We’re not moving aircraft right now, all right. When I have more for you, I will reach out. I don’t know, just call the tower, and we’ll figure it out. This could have been a big incident.”
But the most devastating exchange comes near the end of the recording, when the emotional weight of what happened seems to land in full.
Port Authority representative gives press conference after an An Air Canada Express plane colliding with a fire truck at LaGuardia Airport on March 23, 2026, in New York City. | Source: YouTube/NBC New York
At 25:26, one person mentioned that they were already working on the situation and commented on how difficult it was to watch.
Five seconds later, at 25:31, another voice says, “Yeah, I know I was here. I tried to reach out to my stuff [sic], and we were dealing with an emergency earlier. I messed up.”
The response, just seconds later, is the line that lingers: “No man, you did the best you could.”
The outlet also reported that footage from the scene showed the emergency firetruck crushed up against the nose of the plane.
More details from BBC live said the aircraft, carrying 72 passengers and four crew members, had arrived from Montreal on Sunday evening and was traveling at about 24 mph.
A traveler looks at canceled flight schedules on a screen at Terminal B in LaGuardia Airport in New York City on March 23, 2026. | Source: Getty Images
A separate BBC update laid out the broader sequence of events. According to that timeline, the Air Canada flight departed Montreal at 10:12 p.m. ET, more than two hours behind schedule.
Minutes before 11:40 p.m., a Port Authority rescue and firefighting vehicle was dispatched to assist with a separate issue involving a plane at LaGuardia that had requested support. At about that same time, the aircraft collided with the truck on the ground while landing.
Port Authority representative gives press conference after an An Air Canada Express plane colliding with a fire truck at LaGuardia Airport on March 23, 2026, in New York City. | Source: YouTube/NBC New York
Emergency crews responded right away after the impact. By 3:09 a.m., LaGuardia said the airport was closed because of the incident, and around 3:30 a.m., the first portion of the National Transportation Safety Board team arrived.
At 4:48 a.m., Port Authority Executive Director Kathryn Garcia said two Air Canada pilots had died, and nine people remained in the hospital. Two Port Authority police officers were also badly injured.
Port Authority representative gives press conference after an An Air Canada Express plane colliding with a fire truck at LaGuardia Airport on March 23, 2026, in New York City. | Source: YouTube/NBC New York
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