A flight attendant aboard an Air Canada Jazz flight that collided with a fire truck at New York’s LaGuardia Airport on Sunday survived in what her daughter described as a “complete miracle,” after being thrown more than 100 metres from the aircraft while still strapped into her seat.
The CRJ-900 aircraft, operated by Jazz Aviation, struck a fire truck during landing, resulting in the deaths of both the pilot and co-pilot. Nine individuals were hospitalized with injuries, including flight attendant Solange Tremblay.
“It’s a complete miracle. At the moment of impact, her seat was ejected more than 100 metres from the plane. They found her and she was still strapped into her seat,” her daughter Sarah Lépine told Quebec’s TVA News. “She had a guardian angel watching over her. It could have been much worse.”
Lépine said her mother sustained multiple fractures and underwent surgery for a broken leg.
According to her social media profile, Tremblay had been working as a flight attendant with Jazz for 26 years.
Jazz Aviation, which is owned by Chorus Aviation, operates regional short-haul flights on behalf of Air Canada under the Air Canada Express brand.
Air Canada, based in Montreal, did not issue an official statement regarding Tremblay, though several staff members confirmed details of the incident.
TVA identified one of the pilots as Antoine Forest, 30, from Coteau-du-Lac, located southwest of Montreal. He had joined Jazz Aviation in 2022.
“The loss of our two fellow crew members onboard Flight 8646 is a profound tragedy,” said Jason Ambrosi, president of the Air Line Pilots Association, the world’s largest airline pilot union.
“These pilots dedicated their careers to the safe transport of passengers, and we are all thinking of their families, loved ones, and colleagues at Jazz Aviation during this devastating time.”
Air traffic control audio from moments before the crash indicates that personnel had cleared a vehicle to cross part of the runway before urgently attempting to stop it.
“Stop, Truck 1. Stop,” the transmission says as the controller attempts to divert the incoming aircraft. Following the collision, recordings released by LiveATC appear to capture controllers reacting to the incident.
One controller said the impact “wasn’t good to watch”. Another replied: “Yeah, I know I was here. I tried to reach out … we were dealing with an emergency earlier. I messed up.”
“Nah, man, you did the best you could,” the other controller says in the recording.
Canada’s prime minister, Mark Carney, described the collision as “deeply saddening.”
