Air Canada Crash: Flight Attendant Survives Being Thrown From Plane
A flight attendant was ejected from an Air Canada plane during a collision with a fire truck at LaGuardia Airport in New York City on Sunday night, surviving what officials are calling a “total miracle.” Solange Tremblay, a flight attendant with Jazz Aviation, suffered multiple fractures to one leg and requires surgery, her daughter, Sarah Lepine, told Canadian news station TVA Nouvelles.
The Air Canada Express flight 8646, a CRJ-900 operated by Jazz Aviation, was landing at LaGuardia when it struck a Port Authority fire truck responding to an unrelated incident on the runway. Both pilots aboard the aircraft were killed in the collision, which occurred shortly before midnight. More than 70 passengers were on board.
Tremblay was thrown approximately 100 metres (over 330 feet) from the aircraft, remaining strapped to her seat, according to reports. “It’s a complete miracle,” Lepine said. “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. She had a guardian angel watching over her. It could have been much worse.”
Aviation safety expert Jeff Guzzetti, a former federal crash investigator, described Tremblay’s survival as remarkable given the extent of the damage to the aircraft’s nose. “The flight attendant’s seat is kind of a jump seat that folds down and is bolted to the wall, the same wall that the cockpit utilizes,” Guzzetti explained. “It’s a very robust seat. It’s designed to withstand probably more crash loads than passenger seats because you need the flight attendant to help passengers receive out of an airplane after a crash.”
The incident is reminiscent of a 2013 crash involving an Asiana Airlines flight at San Francisco International Airport, where at least two flight attendants were injured after being thrown from the aircraft during a landing accident. That crash resulted in three fatalities.
Air traffic control audio reveals a frantic attempt by a controller to halt the incoming Air Canada flight as the fire truck was on the runway. Investigators are currently examining the audio recordings and other evidence to determine the sequence of events leading to the collision, and whether communication breakdowns contributed to the accident. The National Transportation Safety Board has not yet released a preliminary report.
Nine people were transported to local hospitals with injuries following the crash. Jazz Aviation, an independent regional airline operating under the Air Canada Express brand, has not yet issued a statement beyond confirming its cooperation with the ongoing investigation.