New footage shows the moment a passenger jet collided with a fire truck at a major airport in New York, killing two pilots and injuring dozens of people.

The Air Canada flight was carrying more than 70 passengers when it crashed at New York’s LaGuardia Airport about 11.40pm on Sunday (2.40pm Monday AEDT).

The footage shows the aircraft moving down the runway before it T-bones the truck, triggering an explosion which sends the truck flying.

The footage comes as an air traffic controller has blamed himself over the deadly incident. Before the collision, the worker can be heard on airport communications frantically telling the fire truck to stop.

The footage comes as an air traffic controller has blamed himself over the deadly incident. Before the collision, the worker can be heard on airport communications frantically telling the fire truck to stop.

Then about 20 minutes later, the controller is heard saying, “We were dealing with an emergency earlier… I messed up.”

The impact severed the cockpit, and hurled a flight attendant — still secured to her seat — far from the site of the crash, her daughter told a Canadian TV station. The flight attendant survived.

Emergency workers pick through the debris from the destroyed Air Canada jet. (AP)

The fire truck was crossing the tarmac just before midnight after being given permission to check on another plane reporting an odour onboard.

Port Authority executive director Kathryn Garcia confirmed the deaths, adding that 41 passengers and two workers in the fire truck were taken to hospital.

She said 32 people had been released but some of those still in hospital were seriously injured. The Port Authority workers were in a stable condition with non-life-threatening injuries.

Garcia deflected all questions about air traffic controller instructions and staffing to the National Transportation Safety Board, which launched an investigation.

Flights have today resumed with just one of two runways open and lengthy delays. The shutdown was causing some disruptions at other airports, too, especially for Delta, which has a major presence at LaGuardia.

The wreckage of the fire truck that collided with the plane has been cordoned off as part of the investigation. (Bloomberg)

Garcia said the fire truck had been responding to another incident after “a pilot who had had multiple attempts at takeoff requested support”.

“The procedure always is in deference to the control tower,” she said, when asked about the procedure in such situations.

“Any time anyone is moving on any of our runways or taxiways, they have to get clearance from the tower to move on our runways and our taxiways.”

Passengers says they helped each other escape the plane

The collision left cables and debris dangling from the mangled cockpit. Images showed the fire truck flipped onto its side, with most of the damage to its back half.

Flight attendant Solange Tremblay suffered multiple fractures to one leg and will need surgery after being thrown from the plane, daughter Sarah Lépine told Canadian news station TVA Nouvelles.

Her survival is “a total miracle,” Lépine said. “I’m still trying to understand how all this happened, but she definitely has a guardian angel watching over her.”

Passenger Rebecca Liquori said the plane hit turbulence while descending, and she then felt it brake hard and heard a loud boom.

An Air Canada Jet sits on the runway at LaGuardia Airport, Monday, March 23, 2026, after colliding with a Port Authority vehicle in New York. (AP Photo/Ryan Murphy)

Firetrucks line up outside LaGuardia Airport, on Monday. (AP Photo/Ryan Murphy)

“Everybody just jolted out of their seats. People hit their heads. People were bleeding,” Liquori told News12 Long Island, a station where she once worked.

Liquori, who said she helped open the emergency exit door, recalled passengers helping each other slide down a wing to get out.

“I’m just happy to be alive,” said Liquori, who had gone to Montreal for a cousin’s baby shower. “I would have never pictured a one-hour flight that I’ve done countless times … ending like this.”

The air traffic controller tried to warn the fire truck.

“Stop, stop, stop, Truck 1. Stop, stop, stop,” the transmission says. “Stop, Truck 1.” The controller can then be heard frantically diverting an incoming aircraft from landing.

Air traffic controllers are not impacted by the partial government shutdown that has caused long delays at airport security checkpoints in recent days. They have been affected by past shutdowns.

Aviation authorities are conducting a full investigation into the crash.

– Reported with Associated Press