Air Canada Crash Audio Captures Controller’s Tragic Admission: ‘I Messed Up’

The transcript and audio from the Air Canada plane crash capture an air traffic controller at LaGuardia airport admitting, “I messed up.”

CTV News published the full transcript from the audio, which went viral on social media. In it, a second controller said, “Man, that wasn’t good to watch.”

The Air Canada jet crashed into a fire truck that was responding to a different incident, a scene captured in a horrific video.

“Yeah, I know. I was here,” the first air traffic controller, who has not been identified, responded. “I tried to reach out to my staff. And we were dealing with an emergency earlier. I messed up.”

“No man, you did the best you could,” the first air traffic controller said.

The Air Traffic Controller Told the Fire Truck to ‘Stop, Truck One, Stop’

A damaged Port Authority fire truck sits near the runway after colliding with an Air Canada Express CRJ-900 at LaGuardia Airport in New York, on March 23, 2026. A plane carrying dozens of people collided with a fire truck on a runway at New York’s LaGuardia airport, killing the pilot and co-pilot and causing “serious injuries” to others, authorities said Monday. Due to the crash late Sunday, US aviation authorities halted all flights at LaGuardia, and the port authority said the airport would stay shut until at least 2:00 pm (1800 GMT) “to allow for a thorough investigation.”(Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP via Getty Images)

((Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP via Getty Images))More

The frantic audio also captures communications between the air traffic controller, and the driver of the fire truck.

“Truck one and company, LaGuardia Tower. Requesting to cross four at Delta,” the fire truck driver said.

“Truck one and company, cross four at Delta,” the air traffic controller said.

“Truck one and company crossing four at Delta,” the driver added.

The controller said: “Frontier 4195, stop there please. (Pause.) Stop, stop, stop, truck one, stop, stop, stop. Stop, truck one, stop! Stop, truck one, stop.”

And then: “Jazz 646. Jazz 646, I see you collided with vehicle. (Inaudible) Hold position. I know he can’t move. Vehicles are responding to you now.“

The 2 Pilots Were Killed in the Tragic Crash

According to NBC News, both the pilot and the co-pilot were killed in the crash, and 41 people were injured and taken to hospitals.

Of those, 32 people had been released by early afternoon on March 23, the day after the deadly incident.

According to NBC, the plane was a Jazz Aviation flight “operated on behalf of Air Canada. The plane was carrying 72 passengers and four crew members.” The fire truck was responding to a report of an odor on a different plane.

“Air Canada Express Flight 8646 struck an Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting vehicle after landing on Runway 4 at LaGuardia Airport in New York,” the Federal Aviation Administration wrote in a statement.

“The accident occurred around 11:45 p.m. local time on Sunday, March 22. The CRJ-900 was arriving from Montreal. The FAA and NTSB will investigate. The NTSB is in charge of the investigation and will provide all updates.”

The Transportation Secretary wrote on X, “Last night, an Air Canada Express CRJ-900 operating from Montreal (YUL) and a Port Authority fire truck at LaGuardia Airport (LGA) collided at about 11:45 p.m. ET.”

He added, “Of the 72 Air Canada Express passengers and 4 crew members, over a dozen are injured. Tragically, both pilots of the aircraft have passed away. At least 2 Port Authority firefighters sustained serious injuries. LaGuardia remains closed until 2pm while the NTSB investigates the accident site.”