Remains of Air Canada pilots killed in LaGuardia crash to be flown back home

Thomas Tracy, New York Daily News on Mar 25, 2026

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NEW YORK — The remains of the two Air Canada pilots killed in Sunday’s LaGuardia airport crash were expected to be flown back home on Wednesday as National Transportation Safety Board investigators finished up their second full day on their extensive probe into the disastrous accident, sources and officials said.

The bodies of pilot Antoine Forest and First Officer Mackenzie Gunther were prepared for transport at two Queens funeral homes and were expected to be taken to Newark Liberty International Airport for a dignified transfer back to Canada Wednesday night, sources with knowledge of the case said.

Forest is from Coteau-du-Lac, a city southwest of Montreal, where scores of residents have been calling City Hall to extend their condolences and ask what they can do to help the family, Mayor Andrée Brosseau told The Canadian Press.

Brosseau said his staff has been directing people to the city’s Facebook page, where a post about the pilot’s death has garnered hundreds of comments and shares.

“We’re telling them to leave a comment,” said Brosseau, adding that if the family ever wants to see the comments, “It will be there, on social media.”

Forest and Gunther were the only two to die in the blistering crash, when the Air Canada plane collided with a Port Authority Police Department Aircraft Rescue firetruck. The crash sheared off the nose of the Air Canada jet.

Passengers who survived the crash praised the two pilots, saying their quick reflexes likely prevented further deaths.

Multiple passengers recalled feeling the pilots braking “extremely hard” as the plane touched down Sunday on the Queens runway moments before the 11:35 p.m. crash.

Several other passengers recalled the same hard braking and believed that pilot Forest put the plane into reverse thrust to slow it down just seconds before the crash.

The dignified transfer back home comes as the NTSB continues its ongoing investigation into the crash.

Runway 4, where the crash occurred, remained closed Wednesday as NTSB investigators continue to question the Port Authority police sergeant and officer who were in the truck, as well as the two air traffic controllers on duty when the crash occurred.

The NTSB will be investigating all facets of the crash, including the possibility that a tower operator gave the emergency vehicle permission to cross the runway without realizing the Air Canada plane was landing there, NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy said during a press conference Tuesday at LaGuardia Airport.

The Port Authority fire truck didn’t have transponders installed that could have helped air traffic controllers better track its movements, while radio transmissions made it clear the fire truck and several other emergency vehicles were close to the runway.

A Port Authority source said the agency’s emergency vehicles never had transponders nor were they required to because they cleared all their movements on the runways with the towers.

Still, the transponders would have allowed controllers in the tower to see them on their instruments, Homendy said.

“The controllers should have all the tools they need to do their job,” she said at the Tuesday press briefing. “Whether it’s aircraft or vehicles moving in the taxiways, they should have it all.”