Passengers on the Air Canada flight that crashed with a fire truck at New York’s LaGuardia Airport have described the “chaos” as the aircraft veered out of control on the runway — while suggesting the pilots who died may have saved countless other lives.
“It was a regular flight like always,” passenger Jack Cabot told Fox News of the jet that landed from Montreal just before 11:40 p.m. Sunday.
“As we were arriving, we came down really hard. We stopped really quickly, 2 seconds later, we had an absolute slam,” he recalled of the crash that left the front of the jet obliterated.
‘IT WAS CHAOS’: An Air Canada passenger details the harrowing moments when the plane he was on collided with a fire truck on the runway during landing at LaGuardia Airport. Two pilots were killed and dozens of passengers were injured. pic.twitter.com/7Nt36V5Bfc
— Fox News (@FoxNews) March 23, 2026
Both pilots were killed, and 41 people were hospitalized in the horrific crash just before 11:40 p.m., which obliterated the front of the jet and forced the closure of the Queens airport for much of Monday.
“Everybody was flying everywhere. The plane veering off left and right. It was chaos. It didn’t feel like there was anybody controlling it,” Cabot added.
Another passenger described how it appeared that the pilots had put the aircraft into reverse thrust at the last second, which may have saved the lives of those on board.
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“We had just touched down, and maybe about 30 seconds later we all felt a jolt forward, then a loud bang, and what felt like sliding sideways down the runway,” passenger Brady Sego wrote on Reddit.
“Someone did say the pilot tried to reverse thrust at the last second. Honestly, they likely saved our lives. I wish I could tell their families how thankful I am. They are heroes,” he added.
Neither pilot has yet been identified, and the exact cause of the crash remains under investigation.
Chilling air traffic control tower audio captures the frantic scenes, as one controller admits they “messed up.”
Haunting pictures taken Monday morning show the plane’s cockpit completely destroyed as daylight rises over the runway of the major travel hub.
