Jazz CRJ9 at New York on Mar 22nd 2026, collision with fire truck on runway

Last Update: March 26, 2026 / 19:40:56 GMT/Zulu time

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Incident Facts

Date of incident
Mar 22, 2026

Classification
Accident

Airline
Jazz Aviation

Flight number
AC-8646

Departure
Montreal, Canada

Destination
New York La Guardia, United States

Aircraft Registration
C-GNJZ

Aircraft Type
Canadair CL-600 Regional Jet CRJ-705

ICAO Type Designator
CRJ9

Airport
La Guardia Airport, New York

Airport ICAO Code
KLGA

A Jazz Canadair CRJ-900, registration C-GNJZ performing flight AC-8646 from Montreal,QC (Canada) to New York La Guardia,NY (USA) with 72 passengers and 4 crew, was cleared to land on runway 04.

Another incident, an approaching United aircraft having declared emergency due to an odour on board, required the attention of emergency services, fire truck #1 requested to cross runway 04 at taxiway D and was cleared to cross, a few seconds later tower shouted "Stop! Stop! #1 Stop! Fire #1 Stop!", but could not avoid the collision between the CRJ9 rolling out and the fire truck at 23:36L (03:36Z Mar 23rd). The aircraft skidded onto high speed turn off F/turn off E, about 130 meters/430 feet further down the runway, before coming to a stop on turn off E.

The captain and first officer died in the accident, two fire fighters on board of the truck received serious injuries, 9 passengers received serious injuries, 32 passengers received minor injuries.

The airport was closed and is estimated to reopen at the earliest at 14:00L (18:00Z) while the investigation is ongoing.

The NTSB has deployed investigators on site.

In the evening of Mar 23rd 2026 the NTSB reported in a press conference, that the FDR and CVR have been recovered from the aircraft, the work to read out the recorders will commence on Mar 24th 2026.

In a second media briefing on Mar 24th 2026 the NTSB reported, that the FDR and CVR were taken to the labs in Washington, the devices were read out. The CVR contained more than 25 hours of good audio data across 4 channels, the FDR contained about 80 hours of good data with more than 400 parameters. The CVR was read out, the last 3 minutes before end of the preliminary recording show, that 3:07 minutes before end of recording (all times referenced to end of recording) the aircraft was handed off to tower, at 2:45 the crew lowered the landing gear, at 2:22 minutes the crew checked in with La Guardia tower, at 2:17 tower cleared the aircraft to land advising they were number two for landing, at 1:52 minutes the crew set the flaps to 30 degrees, at 1:33 the flaps were set to 45 degrees, at 1:26 the GPWS called "1000 feet", at 1:12 the crew confirmed the landing checklist was completed. At 1:03 an airport vehicle made a radio transmission to tower, but that transmission was stepped on by another radio transmission (the source of this transmission has yet to be identified). At 54 seconds the crew acknowledged they were 500 feet AGL and on a stable approach. At 44 seconds tower queried which vehicle needed to cross the runway, at 28 seconds truck #1 made a radio transmission to tower, at 26 seconds tower acknowledged that transmission, at 25 seconds truck #1 requested to cross runway 04 at taxiway D, at 20 seconds tower cleared the vehicle #1 and company to cross the runway, at 19 seconds GPWS called "100 feet", at 17 seconds the truck read back the clearance, at 14 seconds the GPWS called "50 feet", at 12 seconds the GPWS sounded "30 feet" and at the same time tower instructed a Frontier Aircraft to hold position, at 11 seconds GPWS called "20 feet", at 10 seconds "10 feet", at 9 seconds tower called "STOP", at 8 seconds a sound consistent with touch down occurred, 6 seconds prior to end of recording one pilot transfered control to the other, at 4 seconds tower again instructed truck #1 to stop.

The first officer had been pilot flying and transferred control to the captain 6 seconds prior to end of recording.

The other incident involved a United flight 2384 at the gate that had rejected takeoff two times and reported fumes or smoke or some sort of smell on board.

Truck #1 was followed by a number of other vehicles, the number is not yet known. Truck #1 did not have a transponder and was manned by two fire fighters. The NTSB does not have information whether there were transponders on any of the fire trucks responding to the United incident.

It is not yet clear how many certified professional controllers were in the facility. There were two people in the tower cab, the local controller and the controller in charge. The controller in charge provided clearance delivery duties, there are conflicting informations who was doing ground control duties. At the time all control duties for La Guardia were done by two controllers, which was standard operating procedure for the midnight shift at La Guardia.

The ASDE-X ground movement replay does not show any target go before the aircraft, however two targets were on taxiway D. The ASDE-X did not issue any alert. The runway status lights were operating.

The NTSB does not yet know whether another controller was available to relieve the tower controller on duty after the accident.

Related NOTAMs:
!LGA 03/325 LGA AD AP CLSD 2603230350-2603231800
!LGA 03/330 LGA AD AP CLSD 2603230643-2604011000
!LGA 03/331 LGA AD AP CLSD 2603230654-2603241000

Metars:
KLGA 230451Z 07005KT 4SM BR BKN024 OVC095 08/07 A2970 RMK AO2 RAE39 SLP056 P0001 T00780072 401500050 $=
KLGA 230432Z 07008KT 4SM -RA BR BKN024 OVC100 08/08 A2969 RMK AO2 P0001 T00830078 $=
KLGA 230351Z 05007KT 4SM -RA BR FEW045 BKN090 OVC110 08/08 A2970 RMK AO2 SLP058 P0007 T00830078 $=
KLGA 230251Z 06007KT 7SM -RA SCT060 OVC095 09/08 A2973 RMK AO2 SLP067 P0003 60007 T00940078 50022 $=
KLGA 230151Z 09007KT 7SM -RA FEW055 SCT085 OVC100 09/08 A2974 RMK AO2 SLP070 P0003 T00890078 $=
KLGA 230051Z 06008KT 10SM -RA FEW060 SCT080 OVC100 11/08 A2975 RMK AO2 RAB10 SLP073 P0001 T01060083 $=
KLGA 222351Z 01006KT 10SM FEW030 BKN100 BKN150 BKN250 11/08 A2966 RMK AO2 RAB2253E08 SLP045 P0000 60000 T01060078 10150 20100 58002 $=
KLGA 222251Z 04011KT 10SM FEW030 BKN090 BKN150 BKN250 11/08 A2972 RMK AO2 SLP064 T01060078 $=

Second Media Briefing by NTSB of Mar 24th 2026:


B-Roll of NTSB documenting the accident scene released Mar 26th 2026:


The aircraft after coming to a stop:


Aerodrome Chart (Graphics: FAA):
Aircraft Registration Data
Registration mark
C-GNJZ
Country of Registration
Canada
Date of Registration
F qAbdnqjcejlbqp Subscribe to unlock
Certification Basis
Nmqgmpi lAdq gmhg kednedbqifbeh fhcfdnAqblAgbA Subscribe to unlock
TCDS Ident. No.
Djeq Subscribe to unlock
Manufacturer
Bombardier
Aircraft Model / Type
CL-600-2D24 (Series 900)
ICAO Aircraft Type
CRJ9
Year of Manufacture
Pi Subscribe to unlock
Serial Number
K jkk Subscribe to unlock
Aircraft Address / Mode S Code (HEX)
Ib hnA Subscribe to unlock
Maximum Take off Mass (MTOM) [kg]
Imhne Subscribe to unlock
Engine Count
D Subscribe to unlock
Engine Type
lcqffkbp Subscribe to unlock
Main Owner
pecpdcbc kh g dm AdbbmeAjklpk q pbqjpqhedppdAlg ddglfpjpAAdlddqkneq keijnicbccAelhdjbjnqnglljmenpmbjlnkhjlppcdg Subscribe to unlock

Aircraft registration data reproduced and distributed with the permission of the Government of Canada.

Incident Facts

Date of incident
Mar 22, 2026

Classification
Accident

Airline
Jazz Aviation

Flight number
AC-8646

Departure
Montreal, Canada

Destination
New York La Guardia, United States

Aircraft Registration
C-GNJZ

Aircraft Type
Canadair CL-600 Regional Jet CRJ-705

ICAO Type Designator
CRJ9

Airport
La Guardia Airport, New York

Airport ICAO Code
KLGA

This article is published under license from Avherald.com. © of text by Avherald.com.
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