MONTREAL – As experts assess the aftermath of the Air Canada Express plane crash at LaGuardia Airport, some say they’re surprised it wasn’t worse — despite the tragedy of a disaster that left two pilots dead.
Retired Air Canada pilot Benoit Gauthier says commercial planes are built for flight, not withstanding head-on collisions with fire trucks that can weigh between 25 and 50 tonnes.
The fuselage can handle glancing blows at lower speeds and the landing gears and subflooring are made with shock absorption in mind during emergency landings.
But the aluminum alloy and carbon fibre that comprise much of the body of commercial planes aim for lightness, with minimal energy-absorbing capacity in the nose of the aircraft.
Aviation expert John Gradek says it’s a “miracle” that all passengers and cabin crew survived, attributing the outcome to both the quick braking of the pilots and the fact the front of the plane jolted upward upon impact, which deflected some of the kinetic energy that would have rippled through the plane.
Late Sunday night, an air traffic controller cleared Air Canada Express Flight 8646 to land less than two minutes before clearing a fire truck to cross the active runway, resulting in a collision that left two Canadian pilots dead and sent more than 40 people to hospital.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 25, 2026.
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