Air Canada flight hits vehicle on runway at LaGuardia Airport

The people in that sub could take a tiny fraction of a photo, tell you the plane model, where it originated from and what the crew had for breakfast. I say that as a compliment. I feel stupid looking at their stuff.

There’s also a lot of confidently incorrect going on there, too. Don’t assume the accuracy of anything based on how much they said or how specific it was.

Why would yours be different?

But not the front page?

Comparing that photo and a stock photo of a CRJ-900, there’s one window, the exit door and the cockpit windows that are not visible and presumably destroyed/in that tangle of debris at the front. I’d be surprised if there weren’t more casualties.

NBC New York now reporting that the pilot and copilot passed away 😔 awful https://www.nbcnewyork.com/new-york-city/plane-collides-vehicle-laguardia-airport/6479805/

I don’t see how they could have survived at all given what the image shows. I saw on a thread in r/aviation that there are four deaths confirmed so far.

Seems unbelievable they survived… Although, this B-17 bomber took a similar-looking amount of damage _while in the air_, and somehow the pilot not only survived, but was able to land it: https://www.reddit.com/r/WWIIplanes/s/xc5cuMiUeR Hoping for a similar miracle in this case!

The fact they haven't added anything as a backup on ground to prevent incursions or collisions the same way as TCAS is mind-blowing. It's basically hoping and praying two objects don't get cleared to occupy the same place at the same time. There's so much better tech that could be put in to at least warn about issues.

I dont believe infrastructure is there yet to detect it, ie knowing where planes and vehicles are. I imagine with faster voice recognition, GPS tracking on vehicles detection will become easier.

My brother is ATC. This is absolutely true.

> Working 20-50% under staffing requirements. We can thank Reagan for firing the striking ATC workers decades back, their staffing levels never really recovered from that.

Aircraft incident investigations always seek to weed out the systemic issues, never to just lay blame on individual factors and call it done. The ATC here was set up for failure. I don’t know if that will be enough to console them in this time but it really should be framed this way. I fear, though, the current administration and news landscape who find nuance to be “woke” and/or not driving enough engagement won’t publicize this info. It’s an awful situation. Truly the worst that could happen to someone.

Maybe they are trained to disregard them because in an emergency the ATC will have more live information than automated systems because they're simultaneously rerouting flights, even incoming flights that may set off lights.

I don't want to get into politics, but politics is literally what ATC controllers have to face the brunt of. Whether it's directives by the government to the FAA to make cuts or long-term directives to operate in a less safe way to make the cuts work (like 1 ATC worker after midnight). That said, Government shut downs both partial or entirely; ATC workers who do not get paid for weeks or even months, may decide to leave their sector entirely, assuming they can even do so, creating shortages even when more ATC positions are available like in the daytime.

Perplexity AI DOGE cuts to the FAA in early 2025 primarily affected probationary and support staff, sparing air traffic controllers, but raised concerns about indirect impacts on aviation safety through increased workload and disrupted support functions. No direct evidence links these cuts to a rise in incidents, as runway incursions actually declined in 2024-2025.[forbes +3] Layoff Scope Around 400 FAA employees were laid off in February 2025 under DOGE, targeting probationary workers in roles like maintenance, aeronautical information specialists, and aviation safety assistants. Air traffic controllers and “critical safety personnel” were explicitly exempt, per Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.[thefulcrum +3] Safety Concerns Raised Unions and experts warned that cuts to support roles—such as map updates for controllers and paperwork for inspectors—could overload remaining staff, potentially compromising safety without prior impact assessments. A congressional hearing highlighted demoralization and strain on controllers amid these changes and shutdown fears, though no controllers were fired.[wsws +1] Incident Trends Runway incursions dropped 17% from 2023 to 2024 (1,777 to 1,474), with high-risk Category A events falling further into 2025; headlines on near-misses often overstated risks, as go-arounds are routine. Early 2025 saw unrelated incidents like a DC midair collision and Toronto crash landing, but FAA data shows no spike tied to DOGE cuts.[forbes +3] FAA Response The FAA launched a controller “hiring supercharge” in March 2025 to address a 3,500-controller shortage, alongside tech upgrades like Approach Runway Verification alerts. DOGE/Musk involvement shifted to system modernizations after pushback on staffing cuts.[independent +3] No. Contemporary reporting indicates that DOGE-related workforce cuts at the FAA targeted technical and support roles, while fully certified airport tower air traffic controllers were largely spared in early 2025. An OPM official also stated that air traffic controllers were explicitly exempt from the Trump hiring freeze that accompanied the early DOGE push.[fortune +2] What DOGE tried to cut • Elon Musk’s DOGE team did attempt to cut air traffic control staffing, prompting a direct clash with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who opposed firing controllers amid several high‑profile aviation incidents.[fortune] • Despite this push, Duffy publicly framed DOGE’s role around “efficiency” and tech upgrades, and not around reducing the number of working controllers in towers.[politico +1] What actually got cut • FAA workforce reductions under the DOGE initiative focused on “hundreds of probationary workers” and technical staff (radar maintenance and infrastructure roles), with reports noting that air traffic controllers were “spared from these layoffs.”[dronelife] • Aviation industry testimony in March 2025 criticized DOGE for firing roughly 400 FAA employees, but the simultaneous policy push was to increase controller hiring, not to reduce certified controller headcount.[forbes] Exemptions and hiring freeze • Separate reporting on the federal hiring freeze at the start of Trump’s 2025 term states that air traffic controllers were formally exempt from that freeze, and that they were not eligible for buyout offers that other federal workers received.[independent] • The FAA’s FY 2025 budget documents continued to emphasize hiring “at least 2,000 new controllers,” reinforcing that policy was to rebuild controller staffing rather than shrink it.[transportation] Bottom line for tower controllers • DOGE tried to push cuts that could have affected controllers, but those efforts were blocked by the Transportation Secretary and constrained by formal exemptions in the hiring freeze.[independent +1] • The cuts that went through in early 2025 fell mainly on non‑controller FAA personnel, so airport tower controllers were, in practical terms, treated as exempt from the core DOGE layoffs and freeze, even as the broader aviation system absorbed other DOGE-driven reductions.[dronelife +1]

Frontier wasn't the airline of the plane landing, it was totally separate from the runway

u/ShipLoud5305 Here is the full audio, including the "I messed up" portion. [https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/livestory/air-canada-crash-la-guardia-airport-9.7138217](https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/livestory/air-canada-crash-la-guardia-airport-9.7138217)

They were not. FAA employees yes, but not air traffic controllers. The FAA is much bigger than controllers. Not like there’s much to cut even if they were. ATC has been chronically understaffed for years.

They're understaffed, overworked, and underpaid in general in one of the most high stress jobs imaginable using systems that are technologically antiquated.

Because of course they were. ATC are the last thing you cut.

There was a post on another sub from one of the passengers, he mentioned most of what's left of the fire truck was off to the side in the grass.

The firetruck, an ARFF type truck, is on the left side of the plane. It was hit so hard it flipped over.

https://www.nycfire.net/forums/threads/3-22-26-queens-2nd-alarm-crash-box-0037.93117/#post-324089

A passenger on the plane posted on r/aviation that the plane tipped up when most were evacuated. Shift in weight. Engines are heavy. Aviation experts in that sub say even with cargo planes there’s a support structure for the back end of the plane so the front end doesn’t pitch like that when cargo is being unloaded.

I would think any remaining mobile emergency services at the airport would have focused on the collision. No word on what the United Airlines flight did, likely returned to the terminal if the odor was that bad and got assistance there as there are EMS at the terminal in case of some medical emergency.

It makes no such implication. It simply describes what happened. The firetruck put itself in the way of the jet and the jet hit it. It would be incorrect to say the fire truck hit the jet as the truck was in the contested space first and was moving slower. Both are commonly used in judging what hit what. There's no judgment of responsibility or guilt involved. But you have an axe to grind, so go right ahead, I guess.