What happened
On March 22, 2026, at 23:37 EDT, an MHI RJ Aviation CL-600-2D24 (CRJ-900), registration C-GNJZ, was landing on runway 4 at LaGuardia Airport (LGA) when it collided with an Oshkosh Striker 1500 aircraft rescue firefighting (ARFF) vehicle, identified as Rescue 35 (R35).
Prior to the accident, an emergency had been declared near terminal B. In response, six ARFF vehicles and one police vehicle were traveling toward the emergency site. The aircraft, operated by Jazz Aviation LP as Air Canada flight 8646, was arriving from Montréal–Trudeau International Airport (YUL).
At 23:35, the air traffic controller (ATC) local controller cleared the aircraft to land. While the response vehicles were moving toward the intersection of taxiways BB and D, the lead vehicle's crew attempted to contact the tower, but their transmission was obscured by simultaneous radio traffic. The ARFF vehicle R35 eventually received clearance to cross runway 4 at taxiway D.
As the C-GNJZ approached the runway threshold, the red runway entrance lights (RELs) illuminated to warn taxiway traffic. The ARFF vehicle began moving across the runway. Although the local controller issued an instruction to stop the vehicle as it crossed taxiway AA, the truck's speed continued to increase. The aircraft touched down at 23:37:17, and the collision occurred approximately two seconds later at the intersection of runway 4 and taxiway D.
The collision resulted in 2 fatal injuries, involving the captain and first officer. Of the remaining occupants, including 72 passengers and 2 ARFF crew members, 6 serious injuries and 33 minor injuries were reported.
The investigation
Investigators examined the aircraft's cockpit voice recorder, flight data recorder, and quick access recorder. The examination of the C-GNJZ revealed severe crush damage to the forward fuselage, extending from the nose to the forward lavatory. The two pilot seats and the forward flight attendant seat were separated from the aircraft and found in the debris.
Mechanical inspections of the aircraft found no anomalies in the flight control surfaces. The thrust reversers and ground spoilers were found in their deployed positions, consistent with the landing phase.
The R35 ARFF vehicle sustained substantial damage to its right-side structure, including the fragmentation of its 1,500-gallon water tank and the release of its 210-gallon foam tank.
A review of the Airport Surface Detection Equipment, Model X (ASDE-X) determined that the system did not generate an alert for the potential runway conflict. Because the responding ground vehicles were not equipped with transponders, the system could not uniquely identify them or establish high-confidence tracks, preventing it from correlating the aircraft's path with the truck's path.
Findings
- The airport was operating under night visual meteorological conditions with light rain and a wet runway.
- The ASDE-X system failed to provide visual or aural alerts because it could not distinguish the individual tracks of the non-transponder-equipped response vehicles.
- The runway entrance lights (RELs) functioned as designed, illuminating to warn taxiway traffic and extinguishing shortly before the collision.