'Total Miracle': Flight Attendant Thrown 330 Feet From Air Canada Plane After Crash Survives

Last Updated:March 24, 2026, 09:31 IST

Air Canada Express crash at LaGuardia killed two pilots while Solange Tremblay was thrown 330 feet from the plane.

A flight attendant onboard the Air Canada plane that collided with a fire truck at New York’s LaGuardia Airport on Sunday was reportedly thrown nearly 330 feet from the aircraft while still strapped into her jump seat after the deadly crash.

Solange Tremblay, the lead flight attendant, suffered multiple fractures in one leg and is expected to undergo surgery, her daughter Sarah Lepine told Canadian outlet TVA Nouvelles.

“She was still strapped to her seat" when first responders reached her, Lepine said after speaking with her mother following the accident. Her survival is “a total miracle", she added. “I’m still trying to understand how all this happened, but she definitely has a guardian angel watching over her," Lepine stated.

The aircraft involved in the crash was an Air Canada Express CRJ-900 carrying 72 passengers and four crew members from Montreal. While landing at LaGuardia, it collided with a fire truck that had entered the runway shortly before midnight to check on another aircraft that had aborted takeoff due to a “strange odour." The crash killed the pilot and copilot and left several others injured.

Surveillance footage captured the moment the jet struck the vehicle as it crossed the runway, sending both sliding down the tarmac. Air traffic control audio indicates a controller had warned the aircraft that a fire truck was approaching and had also cleared the truck to cross. Moments later, he can be heard urgently saying: “Stop, stop, stop, truck 1 stop, truck 1, stop." Roughly 20 minutes later, the controller appears to acknowledge responsibility, saying, “We were dealing with an emergency earlier. I messed up."

A passenger, Rebecca Liquori, said the aircraft hit turbulence during descent before braking sharply. “Everybody just jolted out of their seats. People hit their heads. People were bleeding," she said, adding that passengers later helped one another slide down a wing to escape. “I’m just happy to be alive," Liquori said. “I would have never pictured a one-hour flight that I’ve done countless times … ending like this."

The two pilots who lost their lives were identified as Antoine Forest and MacKenzie Gunther.

News world 'Total Miracle': Flight Attendant Thrown 330 Feet From Air Canada Plane After Crash Survives

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