A survivor of the terrifying Air Canada Express runway collision at LaGuardia Airport has spoken out about the chaotic final moments, crediting the pilots with doing everything possible to protect the passengers even as tragedy struck the cockpit. Jack Cabot, one of the 72 passengers aboard Flight AC8646 from Montreal, described the sudden shift from a normal landing to pure pandemonium when the CRJ-900 slammed into a Port Authority fire truck on Runway 4 late Sunday night, March 22, 2026.

Cabot recalled the approach feeling routine until the instant of impact. “We went down for a regular landing and we came in pretty hard,” he told Fox News. “We immediately hit something and it was just chaos from there.” About five seconds later, the aircraft came to a stop, but in that brief, violent window, the cabin erupted. Passengers were jolted forward in their seats, screams filled the air, and the sense of losing control was overwhelming. “It didn’t feel like anyone was in control of anything,” Cabot continued. “Looking back on it, the pilot did the best thing he could. He hit the brakes as hard as he could.”

His words echo the growing tributes to Captain Edward Daniel Murphy and First Officer Antoine Forest, who both perished in the forward section when the jet struck the fire truck responding to a separate United Airlines odor emergency. The impact sheared away much of the cockpit, killing the pilots instantly from catastrophic injuries, while the rear and mid-cabin remained largely intact. This structural preservation allowed flight attendants to execute a swift evacuation, enabling all surviving passengers and crew to escape with injuries ranging from moderate to serious — 41 people were hospitalized, though many have since been released.

Cabot’s account aligns with other survivor descriptions of a massive bang followed by the surreal sensation of the plane “skating” down the runway before halting. Many believe the pilots’ final braking inputs prevented the aircraft from veering off, cartwheeling, or breaking apart further, actions that likely saved dozens of lives behind them. “It was in nobody’s hands whether we lived or died,” Cabot reflected, highlighting the razor-thin margin between survival and catastrophe in those split seconds.

The collision stemmed from a timing conflict in ground operations. Air traffic control audio previously released shows controllers desperately repeating “Stop! Stop! Stop! Truck 1, stop!” as the fire truck crossed the active runway. Despite the frantic warnings, the jet — still carrying significant landing speed — made contact. The National Transportation Safety Board, alongside the FAA, Transport Canada, and the Canadian Transportation Safety Board, continues its investigation with flight data and cockpit voice recorders now recovered. Early focus includes clearance protocols, tower workload during the busy late-night shift, surface surveillance effectiveness, and emergency vehicle movement procedures at constrained airports like LaGuardia.

Cabot’s praise for the pilots has resonated deeply amid an outpouring of tributes. Aviation professionals and passengers alike have highlighted how the crew’s composure and final maneuvers turned a potential mass-casualty event into a tragedy limited to the two pilots. Air Canada and Jazz Aviation have expressed profound sorrow, activating support teams for the pilots’ families, injured passengers, and crew while pledging full cooperation with investigators.

LaGuardia Airport was shut down for hours following the crash, causing widespread disruptions across the Northeast. Limited operations have since resumed, but the emotional impact lingers. Memorials and messages of solidarity continue to appear at airports in Montreal and New York, with pilots honoring Murphy and Forest through small gestures like black ribbons on uniforms.

For Cabot and others who lived through the ordeal, the memory of that violent jolt and the subsequent chaos remains vivid. His willingness to share the story humanizes the statistics: behind the headlines of two fatalities and dozens injured are real people who experienced terror in what should have been a routine arrival. Yet his reflection on the pilot’s final effort offers a thread of gratitude amid the grief — recognition that even in the face of impossible circumstances, the crew fought to protect those entrusted to their care.

As the investigation deepens, questions about systemic improvements — stricter hold-short enforcement, automated alerts, and better coordination for emergency responses — will likely gain momentum. LaGuardia’s geographic constraints make such incidents a persistent risk, underscoring the need for ongoing advancements in ground safety technology and procedures.

Jack Cabot’s words stand as a poignant testament to the pilots’ professionalism: “He did the best thing he could.” In the critical seconds before impact, that effort helped ensure that 72 passengers and the surviving crew could walk away from a scene that could have been far worse. Their survival, while bittersweet, honors the final acts of two aviators who put duty above all else.

The LaGuardia collision remains a sobering reminder of aviation’s unforgiving margins, but also of the quiet heroism that often unfolds unseen in the cockpit during the most desperate moments.