The pilots of the Air Canada Express plane that was in a deadly collision with a fire truck at LaGuardia Airport were identified on Tuesday as Antoine Forest and Mackenzie Gunther. They were declared dead at the scene after the crash late Sunday.
Mr. Gunther, the first officer on the flight, graduated in 2023 from the aviation technology program at Seneca Polytechnic in Toronto, the college said in a statement, before embarking on his professional flying career. On Tuesday, the college lowered its flags on campus in Mr. Gunther’s memory.
The other pilot, Mr. Forest, 30, had worked for Jazz Aviation, which operated the Air Canada Express plane, since December 2022, according to his LinkedIn profile. Jeannette Gagnier, his great-aunt, confirmed his death to The New York Times and said that Mr. Forest was like a grandson to her. Mr. Forest’s brother, Cédric Forest, also confirmed his brother’s death on social media.
“Gone again in the wind too soon to say goodbye,” Cédric Forest posted on Monday night. “I love you brother.”
From a young age, Mr. Forest, who grew up in a small city in southwestern Quebec, Canada, loved to fly planes. At 16, he learned to pilot bush planes seasonally for the regional airline Air Saguenay before graduating to twin engine planes, Ms. Gagnier told The Toronto Star.
In all, 72 passengers and four crew members were on board Flight 8646 from Montreal. The two pilots were killed and more than 40 people were sent to area hospitals, though most were released within hours.
“It was an aviation disaster the likes of which we have not seen here in over three decades,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said at a news conference Monday afternoon. “But it’s a deeply human story where two young pilots left their homes expecting to return to their families and they will not, and this is what pains everyone.”
Before the jet landed, a United Airlines aircraft at LaGuardia had experienced an aborted takeoff and had called for the deployment of the fire truck, said Bryan Bedford, head of the Federal Aviation Administration. Air traffic controllers gave both the Air Canada pilots and the fire truck permission to access the runway and may have been distracted, according to audio from the traffic tower.
Passengers described hearing a loud grinding sound as the pilots tried to slow the plane down. Seconds later, they were jolted forward as the plane collided into the fire truck crossing the runway. A flight attendant who was strapped in her seat was ejected from the aircraft. The front of the plane was smashed in and mangled.
“They did everything they can to save us and they didn’t save themselves and they couldn’t save themselves,” said Rebecca Liquori, 35, who was sitting in seat 19A.
Mr. Bedford expressed his sympathies to the families of the pilots at a news conference on Monday.
“These were two young men at the start of their career, so it’s an absolute tragedy that we’re sitting here with their loss,” he said.
Marisol Tremblay, a hairdresser, worked seasonally with Mr. Forest at Air Saguenay from 2017 until 2019 when the company went out of business, she said. Ms. Tremblay was an excursions sales rep for tourists arriving on cruise ships in the Saguenay River in Eastern Quebec, and said that Mr. Forest flew the planes.
The two last spoke about a year ago, and Ms. Tremblay said she was not surprised to see him living his dream as an airline pilot.
“Antoine knew how to reassure people, always smiling, always able to put people at ease,” she said.
Félix-Antoine Beauchemin contributed reporting from Hawkesbury, Ontario.
Pranav Baskar is an international reporter and a member of the 2025-26 Times Fellowship class, a program for journalists early in their careers.
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