LaGuardia Plane Crash
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An aviation expert explains how a flight attendant 'miraculously' survived being thrown off an Air Canada jet during the LaGuardia plane crash.

An Air Canada Express jet collided with a fire truck while landing at New York's LaGuardia Airport on Sunday night, killing the two pilots and injuring dozens aboard. Flight attendant Solange Tremblay was hurled more than 100 meters away from the plane and onto the LaGuardia Airport runway, yet miraculously survived.

Tremblay's daughter, Sarah Lepine, described her mother's survival as a 'total miracle' in an interview with Canadian news station TVA Nouvelles. Lepine said Tremblay suffered multiple fractures to one leg and needed surgery, but was otherwise unharmed.

'I'm still trying to understand how all this happened,' Lepine said, 'but she definitely has a guardian angel watching over her.' The jet carried 72 passengers and four crew members when the plane's nose section was crushed upon impact.

Expert Explains Flight Attendant's 'Miraculous' Survival

Aviation safety expert Jeff Guzzetti attributed Tremblay's survival to her robust four-point restraint jump seat, which was bolted to the wall of the cockpit. 'It's a very robust seat,' Guzzetti said via The Independent. '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.'

The fire truck was responding to an issue on another aircraft on the runway when the Air Canada plane struck it during landing. Tremblay, a veteran flight attendant, was seated behind the pilots' cabin at the time of impact.

Guzzetti called the survival miraculous, considering the aeroplane's nose was crushed. He attributed to Tremblay's seat, which folds down and shares the sturdy wall structure with the cockpit.

Passengers Recall the Moment of Impact

Passengers reported hearing a loud bang before the collision, which was followed by the sight of debris scattering the runway. First responders found Tremblay outside the wreckage, alive and still strapped to her jumpseat.
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Tremblay's 'miracle' echoes a 2013 Asiana Airlines incident at San Francisco International Airport, where flight attendants were also thrown from the plane but survived with injuries. Three passengers died in that sea wall disaster, out of the 291 people aboard the plane.

Air Canada Express, operated by Jazz Aviation, confirmed the flight originated from Toronto. The National Transportation Safety Board are still determining the cause of the accident.

Ground Control Held Accountable for the Incident

'We have a lot of data right now, a lot of information, including information on tower staffing, but the NTSB deals in facts,' NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy said during a news conference that included CNN. 'We don't speculate. We don't take one person at their word. We verify that information carefully before we provide it.'

The control tower that coordinated Air Canada's landing repeatedly instructed the fire truck to stop as the plane landed.

The audio recording also revealed how the ground controller responded in the aftermath. 'We were dealing with an emergency earlier. I messed up,' they said.

Homendy said they're still verifying who was actually in charge of ground control that night. 'It is not clear who was conducting the duties of the ground controller. We have conflicting information,' she said.

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