Air traffic control audio reveals where LaGuardia fire truck was going when it hit plane

Another air traffic control recording has revealed where the fire truck was going when it collided with an Air Canada plane at LaGuardia in New York on Sunday night (22nd March), killing two pilots.

The Port Authority Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting vehicle was responding to a “separate incident” when a plane  which had just landed from Montreal and was carrying 72 passengers crashed into it. Its two pilots have sadly died, and 43 more people were taken to hospital with injuries.

It has now been revealed that the truck was trying to cross the runway to get to a United Airlines flight, which was scheduled to fly to Chicago, but had declared an emergency on the ground due to a “weird odour” on board.

Credit: OLGA FEDOROVA/EPA/Shutterstock

In an audio clip between the pilot and air traffic controller, you can hear the pilot say: “We have an odour on the plane as well here at this time, we are going to be going back to the gate and request fire as well.” The air traffic controller asked if it was a “sewer smell” and told the pilot:”We smelt that too going around the terminal there, right before you get to Echo.”

After directing the plane around the airport, the air traffic officer asked: “Is this odour like a smoke odour? Like is it a fire?” The pilot responded: “It was a weird odour, I don’t know exactly how to describe it.” After that, the air traffic officer asked if they still needed them to send a fire response team, and he replied: “Yeah, because there’s still an odour in the back.”

The situation then escalated, and the pilot said: “United 2384 is declaring an emergency, the flight attendants in the back are feeling ill because of the odour. We will need to go into any available gate at this time.” At the end of the clip, you hear the panicked officer say there’s an “incident on the field” as the fire truck crashes into the plane.

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A fire truck was trying to cross runway 04 at LGA – LaGuardia Airport this evening to get to a United Airlines flt 2384 that had 2 rejected takeoffs. The United 737 Max declared an emergency on the ground and requested fire trucks due to a strange odor that was making the flight… https://t.co/KJ7wJIgyvz pic.twitter.com/w3e6DhvUfH

— Thenewarea51 (@thenewarea51) March 23, 2026

Port Authority Executive Director Kathryn Garcia also said in a press conference: “The vehicle was responding to another aircraft, operated by United, that had reported an issue with odour.” As per the BBC, she later added: “A pilot, who had had multiple attempts at take-off, requested support. They were responding to that request.”

Katie Rojas, 26, was on board the Chicago-bound flight which never took off due to the foul smell. She told the BBC: “It tried taking off twice and both times literally stopped in its tracks. They said there was a smell coming from the plane. I don’t know if that was just something they were saying.”

It wasn’t until they had deboarded and got back into the terminal that she realised what had happened to the Air Canada plane. “It’s scary,” she said. “You never know if it could have been one of us.”

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Featured image credit: OLGA FEDOROVA/EPA/Shutterstock and ATC