Air Canada pilot killed in LaGuardia fire truck crash had been flying since he was 16, family say

Two pilots were killed and 41 people were injured late Sunday night when an Air Canada Express flight collided with a Port Authority fire truck at New York’s LaGuardia Airport.

The Bombardier CRJ-900, operated by Jazz Aviation, was arriving from Montreal with 76 passengers and crew when it struck the emergency vehicle on Runway 4 at approximately 11:40 p.m. The truck had been cleared to cross the active runway while responding to a separate incident involving a United Airlines flight.

While federal authorities have not yet released the names of the flight crew, family members have begun identifying the victims. Both the pilot and co-pilot were based in Canada, according to Port Authority Executive Director Kathryn Garcia.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) are conducting a joint investigation into the collision. The airport officially reopened at 2 p.m., though officials cautioned that only one of its two runways is currently operational.

The nearly 14-hour closure forced the cancellation of more than 500 flights Monday.

Antoine Forest

The family of Antoine Forest has confirmed that the Coteau-du-Lac, Quebec, native was one of the two pilots who died in Sunday’s crash. Relatives spoke with the Toronto Star on Monday to identify Forest, who lived in the small town located about 25 miles southwest of Montreal.

Forest’s great-aunt, Jeannette Gagnier — whom he considered a grandmother — told the Star that he had been flying since he was 16 years old.

“He was always taking courses and flying,” Gagnier said, recalling how he first learned to pilot bush planes as a teenager. “He never stopped.”

Forest spent his youth between his home in Quebec and Hawkesbury, Ontario, where he and his younger brother spent summers fishing and watching television with Gagnier. During his 11th-grade year, he moved in with Gagnier specifically to improve his English, a step he believed was vital for his future career as a pilot.

According to his professional records and LinkedIn profile, Forest began his career flying smaller bush planes, such as the de Havilland Canada Beaver and Otter, for Air Saguenay. He later moved on to pilot twin-engine aircraft for ExactAir before joining Jazz Aviation as a first officer in December 2022.

Photos on Forest’s Facebook page reflect his love for the outdoors, showing him hiking snow-capped mountains and spending time on the water. Gagnier, who received the news of the crash from her son on Monday, remembered the pilot as a “handsome young man” who would still cuddle with her at bedtime during his summer visits as a child.

“It’s a very bad day for me,” she told the Star.

While investigators are still analyzing flight data, survivors continue to point to the crew’s actions as a reason more lives weren’t lost. Reports from the cabin suggest the pilots attempted to deploy reverse thrust in the final seconds — a move many believe prevented the jet from veering further off course after the nose was destroyed.