Flight attendant likely survived 300-foot ejection from LaGuardia plane crash thanks to key safety features, expert says

An Air Canada flight attendant miraculously survived being thrown more than 300 feet from the plane when it crashed into a fire truck at LaGuardia Airport on Sunday night because of her “robust” jump seat, according to a safety expert.

Solange Tremblay was seated in her jump seat — which is specifically designed to withstand crashes — when Flight 8646 T-boned a Port Authority Police Aircraft Rescue Fire Truck en route to an emergency around 11:40 p.m.

The impact of the crash sent Tremblay flying 300 feet from the aircraft, her daughter said — but she suffered only a fractured leg.

Solange Tremblay, a flight attendant, smiling in front of an airplane.
Flight attendant Solange Tremblay’s “very robust” jump seat — specifically designed to withstand crashes — is likely what saved her during the deadly Air Canada collision at LaGuardia.Obtained by NY Post
Jeff Guzzetti, a former federal crash investigator, said Tremblay escaped largely unscathed because of the special seat, which has a four-point restraint.

“The flight attendant’s seat is kind of a jump seat that folds down and is bolted to the wall, the same wall that the cockpit utilizes,” said Guzzetti.

“It’s a very robust seat,” he added. “It’s designed to withstand probably more crash loads than passenger seats because you need the flight attendant to help passengers get out of an airplane after a crash.”

Tremblay’s daughter, Sarah Lepine, told Canadian news station TVA Nouvelles that what happened to her mother was a “total miracle.”

Solange Tremblay smiling in a grey hoodie.
Tremblay’s daughter said her mom “definitely has a guardian angel watching over her.”Solange Tremblay/facebook

A damaged Air Canada Express jet on the ground with its front end ripped apart, surrounded by debris and emergency personnel.
Debris hangs from the front of a damaged Air Canada Express jet that collided with a Port Authority fire truck at LaGuardia Airport in Queens, New York.obtained by NY Post
“I’m still trying to understand how all this happened,” Lepine said, “but she definitely has a guardian angel watching over her.”

“At the moment of impact, her seat was ejected more than 100 meters (328 feet) from the plane. They found her and she was still strapped into her seat,” she said.

The pilot, Antoine Forest, and co-pilot, Mackenzie Gunther, were killed instantly when the front of the plane rammed into the emergency vehicle on Runway 4.

Harrowing video captured the jet barreling into the truck, leaving it completely mangled and obliterating the front of the aircraft.

Forty-one of the 76 passengers and crew members aboard the plane were hospitalized with injuries, most of them minor, officials said.

The fire truck had been cleared to cross the runway as it responded to a separate emergency on board a different plane that had just aborted its takeoff.

An air traffic controller was heard admitting he “messed up” soon after the crash.

The cause of the crash remains under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board.

NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy said Tuesday it’s likely there were “multiple failures” that led to the fatal incident, and that it was “too early” to pin the blame solely on the controller.

“We have found in all of our investigations that it is not a single error that led to a terrible tragedy,” Homendy told Fox News’ “Fox & Friends.”