2 pilots killed in LaGuardia Airport runway collision identified
The pilots killed in a collision between a jetliner and a fire truck on a New York runway have been identified as Capt. Antoine Forrest and First Officer Mackenzie Gunther.
The two Canadian pilots who died in Sunday's runway collision at LaGuardia Airport in New York were young, ambitious men at the start of their careers who each had pursued their yearslong dream of flying.
Capt. Antoine Forrest and First Officer Mackenzie Gunther were operating the Air Canada jet that was landing at New York's LaGuardia Airport when it collided with a fire truck, officials announced on Tuesday.
According to Air Canada, 39 of the passengers and crew members were injured when the arriving Air Canada Express plane collided with an emergency vehicle on a runway just before midnight Sunday. There were 72 passengers and a crew of four on board, arriving from Montreal.
"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."
The collision occurred after air traffic control apparently cleared the fire-rescue vehicle to cross the runway before telling it to stop, air traffic control recordings revealed. The plane was traveling at about 100 mph when the collision occurred, sources told CBS News.
An investigation is underway into the cause of the collision. In a news conference Tuesday, the National Transportation Safety Board said that a runway warning system did not activate in the moments before the collision.