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The two Canadian pilots who died in Sunday’s runway collision at LaGuardia Airport in New York were young, ambitious men at the start of their careers who each had pursued their yearslong dream of flying.
Capt. Antoine Forest and First Officer Mackenzie Gunther were operating the Air Canada jet that was landing at New York’s LaGuardia Airport when it collided with a fire truck, officials announced on Tuesday.
According to Air Canada, 39 of the passengers and crew members were injured when the arriving Air Canada Express plane collided with an emergency vehicle on a runway just before midnight Sunday. There were 72 passengers and a crew of four on board, arriving from Montreal.
“These were two young men at the start of their careers,” FAA Administrator Brian Bedford told reporters Monday. “It’s an absolute tragedy that we’re sitting here with their loss.”
The collision occurred after air traffic control apparently cleared the fire-rescue vehicle to cross the runway before telling it to stop, air traffic control recordings revealed. The plane was traveling at about 100 mph when the collision occurred, sources told CBS News.
An investigation is underway into the cause of the collision. In a news conference Tuesday, the National Transportation Safety Board said that a runway warning system did not activate in the moments before the collision.
Air Canada said Tuesday that six of the 39 people who were injured remain hospitalized.
Antoine Forest
Jeannette Gagnier, the great aunt of one of the pilots, identified him as Antoine Forest. Gagnier, who said that Forest looked to her as a grandmother figure, told The Associated Press that he always wanted to be a pilot. His LinkedIn page showed he had worked for two airlines in the past five years.
Forest’s Facebook page said that he was from Coteau-du-Lac, a small city in southwestern Québec. The mayor of Coteau-du-Lac, Andrée Brosseau, offered condolences to Forest’s family in a post on Tuesday translated from French.
“Antoine was one of our own. In a community like ours, everyone knows someone who knew him. His passing represents an immense loss for our entire community,” Brosseau wrote.
Antoine Forest via Facebook
Antoine’s brother, Cédric Forest, shared a picture of his brother and him when they were kids.
“Have a safe flight, my brother! Oh yes, we’ve often heard that phrase, but this time will be the last,” he wrote on Facebook. “You were coming and going in the wind, always full of new projects in mind. Gone again in the wind too soon to say goodbye I love you brother you can leave with your head held high.”
A woman who said she is Forest’s girlfriend and also a young pilot shared a photo of the couple on her Facebook account on Tuesday captioned, “the love of my life.”
Mackenzie Gunther
Toronto college Seneca Polytechnic said in a statement on Tuesday that Gunther graduated from its Honors Bachelor of Aviation Technology program in 2023.
He joined the Jazz Aviation Pathways Program, a training program operated by Air Canada, immediately after graduating. The flight that crashed on Tuesday was a Jazz Aviation plane operating on behalf of Air Canada.
“Seneca sends our deepest condolences to Mr. Gunther’s family and friends, and to his former colleagues and professors. He will be deeply missed,” the school’s post said.
The school lowered its flags to half-staff to honor Gunther on Tuesday.
Some have said it was a miracle that more people weren’t hurt, and at least one passenger, Clément Lelièvre, credited Gunther and Forest’s “incredible reflexes” with saving his life and those of others. The pilots braked extremely hard just as the plane touched down, he said.
