Pilots killed in jet collision with fire truck on LaGuardia runway identified
Aircraft maintenance workers arrive to inspect the wreckage of an Air Canada Express jet, Tuesday, March 24, 2026, just off the runway where it had collided with a Port Authority fire truck Sunday night at LaGuardia Airport in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura) 2026-03-24T22:29:06Z The pilots killed in Sunday’s collision between a plane and a fire truck on a runway in New York were two young, ambitious Canadian men that had long dreamed of becoming pilots.
Mackenzie Gunther and Antoine Forrest were operating the Air Canada jet that was landing at New York’s LaGuardia Airport on Sunday when it collided with a fire truck.
Officials still haven’t identified the two men publicly, but a family member who spoke to The Associated Press and a Canadian college that one of the men attended separately confirmed their identities.
About 40 of the roughly 70 passengers and crew members on the regional jet from Montreal , and two people from the fire truck, were taken to hospitals, some with serious injuries.
Most were released by Monday morning, authorities said. “These were two young men at the start of their careers,” FAA Administrator Brian Bedford told reporters Monday. “It’s an absolute tragedy that we’re sitting here with their loss.” An investigation is underway into the cause.
Federal officials said on Tuesday that a runway warning system failed to sound an alarm moments before the collision, and are looking into the role of the air traffic controllers and what they were doing while juggling a late night emergency involving another plane.
The crash occurred during an already messy time at U.S. airports because of a partial government shutdown.
Here is what is known so far about both pilots.
Antoine Forest Jeannette Gagnier, the great aunt of one of the pilots , identified him as Antoine Forest.
Gagnier, who said that Forest looked to her as a grandmother figure, told AP that he always wanted to be a pilot.
His LinkedIn page showed he had worked for two airlines the past five years.
Forest’s Facebook page said that he was from Coteau-du-Lac, a small city in southwestern Québec.
The mayor of Coteau-du-Lac, Andrée Brosseau, offered condolences to Forest’s family in a translated post on Tuesday from French. “Antoine was one of our own.
In a community like ours, everyone knows someone who knew him.
His passing represents an immense loss for our entire community,” Brosseau wrote.
Antoine’s brother, Cédric Forest, shared a picture of his brother and him w
原文链接: AP News