Air Canada Crash Investigation Underway as 2025 Pilot Report Highlights LaGuardia Control Concerns
Canadian investigators have arrived at the scene of Sunday's fatal collision between an Air Canada Express flight from Montreal and a Port Authority fire truck at New York's LaGuardia Airport. The Transportation Safety Board (TSB) dispatched three investigators to New York on Tuesday morning, with updates expected throughout the day as the probe intensifies.
Pilot's 2025 Report Raised Alarm About LaGuardia Controllers
An August 2025 report submitted to the NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System reveals that a pilot had previously expressed serious concerns about air-traffic control operations at LaGuardia Airport. The pilot warned that controllers "are pushing the line" and urgently requested intervention, stating: "Please do something."
The report detailed an incident where the pilot was landing an aircraft when controllers cleared another plane for takeoff despite dangerous proximity between the two aircraft. The pilot drew comparisons to conditions at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport before the January 2025 collision that killed nearly 70 people, noting: "On thunderstorm days, LGA is starting to feel like DCA did before the accident there."
Pattern of Safety Incidents at LaGuardia
Recent safety reports indicate a troubling pattern of near-miss collisions and safety concerns at the busy New York airport:
- July 2024: A near-collision occurred between an airplane cleared to cross a runway and another aircraft that had just landed. A report noted: "Ground Control issued a stop command just in time. The other plane rolled past at the same time as we came to a stop. We were extremely close to the landing aircraft."
- February 2025: A pilot reported a near mid-air collision with a helicopter, suggesting air-traffic control should have allowed more separation between the aircraft.
- October 2025: A collision between two regional jets on the LaGuardia runway sent one person to the hospital, according to CNN reports.
Sunday's fatal crash marks the second collision on the LaGuardia tarmac in recent months, raising questions about systemic safety issues at the facility.
Investigation and Memorials
The TSB has stated it is too early to determine how long investigators will remain in New York. The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board is scheduled to hold a press briefing later in the day.
Meanwhile, tributes are emerging for the victims of Sunday's collision. Co-pilot Mackenzie Gunther, who graduated from Seneca Polytechnic's Honours Bachelor of Aviation Technology program in 2023 and joined Jazz Aviation immediately afterward, has been identified as one of the fatalities. Flags flew at half-mast outside Air Canada headquarters in Montreal and at Seneca Polytechnic in Toronto in his memory.
Pilot Antoine Forest, 30, from Coteau-du-Lac, had previously been identified as the other crew member killed in the crash. The collision left more than forty people injured, though flights into and out of LaGuardia have since resumed operations.
The investigation continues as authorities examine whether the safety concerns raised in the 2025 report were adequately addressed and what role, if any, they played in Sunday's tragic collision.
