Clifford Law Offices, an internationally recognized leader in plaintiffs’ aviation litigation, had its aviation experts create a draft animation (video is below) of the crash of Air Canada Express Flight 8646 and a fire rescue truck at New York’s LaGuardia Airport (LGA) on March 22, 2026, that left two pilots dead and dozens of others injured.
“This crash was preventable had everyone been doing their jobs. The air traffic controller obviously cleared the fire truck to cross the runway while the Air Canada Express jet was on its final approach to land, only seconds away from touching down,” said Robert A. Clifford, founder and senior partner of Clifford Law Offices, who has represented plaintiffs in every major commercial airline crash in the U.S. in the last 50 years. “It also is inconceivable that the ARFF truck was not equipped with a transponder that would have assisted the Airport Surface Detection Equipment-Model X (ASDE-X) ground collision prevention system in performing its function. The ASDE-X system should also have illuminated the red lights along the edge of the runway to alert the fire truck to the active status of the runway with an airplane on short final approach, which the fire truck personnel should have known was an indication that the runway was not safe to cross. There is a lot to unravel here to get to the bottom of who is responsible and what needs to be done so it doesn’t occur again.”
The draft animation is based on preliminary Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) position data, National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) content provided at its second media briefing by the Investigator in Charge (IIC), Terrain Awareness and Warning System (TAWS) generic callout sounds, a generic ARFF truck model, and airport crash video. All airport and airplane lighting shown in the draft animation is speculative, based upon generic LaGuardia Airport and Air Canada jet lighting configurations.
The Jazz Aviation jet operating as Air Canada Express collided with the ARFF vehicle on LGA’s Runway 4 at about 11:37 p.m. on March 22, 2026. The Air Canada Express jet took off from Montreal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport with 76 people on board, including four crew members.
Clifford Law Offices is investigating all possible responsible parties in this tragic crash, including the potential liability of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
Proprietary link to draft animation:
NOTE: THE USE OF THIS PROPRIETARY VIDEO IS UNAUTHORIZED WITHOUT THE EXPRESS WRITTEN CONSENT OF CLIFFORD LAW OFFICES.