The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has released footage of the LaGuardia Airport (LGA) crash site from the early stages of its investigation into the tragedy.
Made public on March 26, 2025, the video shows the staggering scale of the collision on Runway 4 and the impact on both the Air Canada Express Bombardier CRJ900 and the fire truck.
During her first media briefing on March 23, 2026, NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy told reporters that, following the crash, a “tremendous amount of debris” had been found across the runway and taxiway.
While several photos have already been shared of the damaged CRJ900, the newly released video starkly conveys the devastating impact that the crash had on the fire truck.
The video features drone footage from above the wreckage site and shows NTSB investigators gathering evidence from the scene.
On March 26, 2026, it was confirmed that Runway 4 at LaGuardia Airport had been reopened and the damaged aircraft and vehicle removed.
The investigation focus will now move to the NTSB’s base in Washington DC, where staff will work for months to come to try and understand the circumstances surrounding the incident.
The two pilots on the Jazz Aviation-operated flight were killed during the crash on March 22, 2026, after arriving from Nashville International Airport (BNA) in Tennessee.
In the last 24 hours, the NTSB also released a photo of investigators documenting the elevator and rudder power control unit from the Air Canada Express jet.
On March 26, 2026, Michael Rousseau, President and CEO of Air Canada, reiterated his “deepest condolences” to the families of the pilots who tragically lost their lives.
Rousseau had been criticized by the Canadian government for only communicating his initial reaction to the tragedy in English. Canada is officially bilingual and both French and English are widely spoken in the country.
Rousseau said: “I am deeply saddened that my inability to speak French has diverted attention from the profound grief of the families and the great resilience of Air Canada’s employees, who have demonstrated outstanding professionalism despite the events of the past few days.”
He added: “Despite many lessons over several years, unfortunately I am still unable to express myself adequately in French. I sincerely apologize for this, but I am continuing my efforts to improve.”
NTSB investigators documenting the elevator and rudder power control unit from the Jazz Aviation, Air Canda Express plane involved in the March 22 collision with a firefighting vehicle on runway at LaGuardia airport. pic.twitter.com/dH0wGS0Zfm
— NTSB Newsroom (@NTSB_Newsroom) March 26, 2026
In the most recent NTSB briefing on March 25, 2025, Homendy noted that investigators typically find “a multitude of factors” in accidents and that she fully expects that to be the case in this incident too.
A central focus of the update was LaGuardia’s Airport Surface Detection Equipment, Model X, or ASDE-X. Homendy claimed that the system did not issue an alert before the collision that could have warned the controller sooner of the conflict between the airliner and the fire truck. However, she did not describe the technology as having failed.
