Mackenzie Gunther, Co-Pilot in LaGuardia Incident, Remembered by Friends and Seneca College Students

It started with a message that never got a reply. And for one café owner, that silence said everything.

A routine night turned tragic at LaGuardia — and now, heartbreaking stories are emerging. Friends and students reveal the life Mackenzie Gunther was just beginning before everything changed overnight.

A Text That Never Came Back

Daniel Biro, owner and roaster of Rapid Ends Coffee in Peterborough, Ontario, thought it was just another day when he reached out to one of his regulars.

But as hours turned into a full day, a quiet dread set in. "When I didn't hear back after a day, I thought it isn't [sic] a good sign," said Biro. That unanswered text would soon carry a devastating weight.

A Routine Flight — Until It Wasn't

Late Sunday night, March 22, 2026, what should have been a routine landing at LaGuardia Airport turned into chaos. A jet collided with a Port Authority fire truck on the runway, leaving over 40 passengers and crew injured. Among those who didn't survive were co-pilots Mackenzie Gunther and Antoine Forest.

But while headlines focused on the shocking crash, those who knew Gunther were left grappling with something far more personal.

The Regular Who Ordered Cold Brew

To Biro, Gunther wasn't just a name in the news — he was the familiar face who came in weekly during his school days. "MacKenzie was an amazing young man. He just graduated a couple years ago. He was a regular here every week while he was in school," Biro said, adding that the pilot had been recently married.

That detail — recently married — makes the loss feel even heavier. "He had his whole life for him. It's super tragic."

Gunther had stopped by just two weeks before the crash, ordering his usual: a cold brew, black, or an espresso over ice. A simple routine, now frozen in time.

A Passion That Took Flight

For those who chatted with him across the counter, Gunther's dream was no secret. "That was his passion, flying. It was a life taken too young," Biro said.

He even described him as a coffee "purist," someone who appreciated the details — whether in a perfectly brewed cup or, perhaps, in the precision of aviation.

Now, Biro is channeling grief into tribute. The café plans to honor Gunther with a signature drink that combines his favorites — Haitian coffee and cold brew — served free while customers sign cards for his widow. "He was an upstanding young man," Biro said.

A Dream Just Taking Off

Gunther was a young aviator who had only recently begun his professional career. He served as the co-pilot on the plane that crashed. Gunther graduated from Seneca Polytechnic with an Honours Bachelor of Aviation Technology in 2023.

Through the Jazz Aviation Pathways Program, he moved directly from graduation into the first officer seat — making Flight 8646 part of what was still a very new chapter.

Before aviation, his LinkedIn shows steady, unglamorous groundwork: a co-op stint as acting ramp lead at Porter Airlines in 2022, and seasonal landscaping work before that. He had been building toward this for years.

Seneca mourned him publicly, calling the news "tragic for our community." Flags at all Seneca campuses were lowered to half-mast on Tuesday, March 24, in his honor.

'It Broke My Heart' — Students React

At Seneca College in Toronto, the news hit hard. For current students, the tragedy feels especially close — a glimpse into a future that suddenly feels fragile. A student said:

"I am devastated. I heard the news, like yesterday. It broke my heart. So many people impacted [...] I'm so sorry."

Another student added, "Life's crazy. You can be expecting to have a normal life tomorrow, and your whole life can change, like, overnight. Prayers go out to the family, anyone who was involved in that. It's a rough situation. You never wish it happens to anybody." Their words echo a chilling truth: this wasn't just a distant headline — it was someone who once sat in their classrooms.

Gunther's journey was only beginning. A recent graduate, newly married, and living out his dream in the cockpit — it was the kind of life people spend years building.

And yet, in a matter of moments, everything changed. What remains now are the small, vivid details: a favorite coffee order, a passion for flying, a text left unanswered. And for those who knew him best, those details are everything.

But beyond the quiet tributes and coffee shop memories, attention turns to the man beside him in the cockpit — and the unfolding chain of events that makes this tragedy even more complex than first imagined.

Who Was Captain Antoine Forest

The pilot at the controls was Antoine Forest, a Quebec native from Coteau-du-Lac, a small town southwest of Montreal, about 20 kilometres east of the Ontario border.

His path to the cockpit was anything but a straight line. According to his LinkedIn profile, he began with Air Saguenay, flying bush planes and training as an aircraft maintenance engineer apprentice.

He later worked at Canadian Helicopters Limited before moving to Exact Air, where he rose from apprentice to captain. In December 2022, he joined Jazz Aviation LP as a first officer based in Montreal — the role he held at the time of the crash.

His Facebook page showed a man who lived fully off the clock, too: hiking, kayaking, sailing, and rock climbing all featured regularly.

Forest had been in a relationship with Kahina Gagnon since May 2022. She is also a professional pilot — currently a first officer at Pacific Coastal Airlines and a former Air Inuit pilot — and holds an officer position with the Canadian Armed Forces.

His hometown reacted quickly. Coteau-du-Lac's municipal council posted its condolences on the city's social media platforms.

Forest was 29 years old. Sitting to his right that night was the first officer, a man who had only just begun his own journey.

What Passengers Said

A passenger who identified himself on Reddit as having been on the flight posted images from the tarmac and described the final seconds before impact.

In a follow-up comment, he wrote:

"We had just touched down and maybe about 30 seconds later we all felt a jolt forward, then a loud bang, and what felt like sliding sideways down the runway."

He continued, "I'm sorry if I'm not using proper terms here. But someone did say the pilot tried to reverse thrust at the last second. Honestly, they likely saved our lives. I wish I could tell their families how thankful I am. They are heroes ❤️."

The flight was carrying 72 passengers and four crew members from Montreal to New York when it struck the Port Authority fire truck on the runway.

The collision did not happen in silence. Air traffic control audio captured the full chain of events that led up to the moment of impact — a recording that now serves as a minute-by-minute account of how everything unraveled.

The chilling timeline surrounding the LaGuardia Airport collision involving an Air Canada flight and an emergency truck was revealed on March 23, 2026.

What started as an onboard odor complaint in the late hours of Sunday, March 22, quickly spiraled into a deadly runway incident, and the audio only makes it more unsettling.

And just when it seemed the story couldn't get any more heartbreaking, a far more intense — and almost cinematic — picture is emerging from inside the cabin, where passengers say the final seconds were anything but ordinary.

Inside the Cabin

As reported by The New York Times, a passenger, Rebecca Liquori, seated near an emergency exit, described a jarring shift from calm to chaos in mere moments. "The pilot was trying to brake to slow the plane down to avoid the crash, and that made, like, just a huge noise," she said. "I've never heard it before. It was like a grinding."

Seconds later, everything spiraled. "A few seconds after that, you hear the collision, and we just got jolted," Liquori added. "We got thrown forward. And everybody's screaming."

The Split-Second Decisions

As panic swept through the cabin, survivors began to piece together what had just happened — and who was responsible for their survival. "They did everything they can to save us and they didn't save themselves and they couldn't save themselves," Liquori recalled, a statement that has since echoed across coverage of the tragedy.

Another passenger, Joe Capio, didn't hesitate to call the crew what many are now repeating: heroes. "They saved everybody on that plane," Capio said, adding, "I feel terrible about the pilots, and I think they are honestly heroes," as reported by The Sun.

But as those final, desperate decisions inside the cockpit begin to come into focus, a new question emerges — what set this chain of events in motion in the first place?

A Routine Problem Turned Urgent

According to an NBC New York report, the trouble began when Flight 2384 declared an emergency after flight attendants in the back of the aircraft reportedly became sick because of an odd smell.

The urgency comes through almost immediately in the transcript of the recording. At 1:35, a voice says, "2384 is declaring an emergency. Flight Attendants in the back are feeling ill because of the odor. We will need to go into any available gates at this time."

That request did not appear to have an easy solution. Just seconds later, the discussion turned to finding space for the aircraft, with one line making clear the situation was already getting complicated.

At 1:55, someone is heard asking, "Do you guys have any gate for United? Because now it's declaring an emergency, they want to get out."

Then at 3:04, the pressure seemed to build even more:

"Hey, I'll say it again, LaGuardia. Now that United says he needs a gate, but so now he's declaring an emergency, but the ramp doesn't have a gate for him."

The Tension Kept Building on the Ground

As responders worked to manage the situation, the transcript shows preparations being made in case passengers needed to get off the plane without a gate.

At 3:19, one person says, "We can get a sand truck if you need them to get off the plane." Just moments later came the response: "Okay, yeah, yeah, do that just in case they want to come off."

Even then, the crew seemed to prefer waiting rather than rushing into an evacuation. The ground crew later messaged the aircraft at 3:35 to explain that the ramp lacked an available gate. The dispatcher added that they were contacting the Port Authority to find an alternative solution.

That was followed by another update at 3:43:

"And the fire trucks are over there. They're gonna bring a stair up, just in case you guys do want to evacuate. Let me know if you do."

The flight crew responded almost instantly, highlighting the urgent need for a resolution. At 3:48, they confirmed their preference to wait for an available gate but warned that their time was running out due to a persistent smell at the rear of the cabin.

The Final Moments Before Impact

As the minutes passed, the audio became even more striking because it captured how normal communication suddenly gave way to confusion.

At 6:25, the aircraft asked again, "2384, Do you have a gate available at this time? Otherwise, we will be probably requesting gears here."

At 6:31, the dispatcher asked the crew for a brief moment to coordinate further. The situation then changed as the teams began coordinating the arrival.

At 6:45, someone asked whether the emergency vehicles were using the ground or tower radio channel. Less than 30 seconds later, the tower cleared flight 2384 to enter lane eight for gate 41.

By 7:03, the crew received orders to head to the ramp and briefly confirmed they were moving in.

And then the transcript reaches the moment that now stands out the most.

At 7:10, "Truck 1" is heard. Seven seconds later comes a blunt warning: "Truck 1, stop." The next moments can't be heard clearly.

That abrupt sequence is what makes the audio so haunting. It captures the final attempt to halt the truck before the recording drops into confusion.

What Happened After the Collision

When the audio resumes, the tone has completely changed. The calm rhythm of instructions is gone, replaced by the stunned language of people reacting to something they had just seen unfold.

At 10:16, one voice says, "We're holding here."

A second later comes the explanation:

"Alright, there's an incident on the field."

The reply says it all:

"Yeah, we saw it, man."

From there, operations appear to grind to a halt. By 11:42, the recording says that the airport had shut down due to an active incident on the field. The dispatcher told the crew to wait and check back in ten minutes.

The shutdown continued well beyond the immediate aftermath. At 18:08, another message states, "We're not moving aircraft right now, all right. When I have more for you, I will reach out. I don't know, just call the tower, and we'll figure it out. This could have been a big incident."

But the most devastating exchange comes near the end of the recording, when the emotional weight of what happened seems to land in full.

At 25:26, one person mentioned that they were already working on the situation and commented on how difficult it was to watch.

Five seconds later, at 25:31, another voice says, "Yeah, I know I was here. I tried to reach out to my stuff, and we were dealing with an emergency earlier. I messed up."

The response, just seconds later, is the line that lingers: "No man, you did the best you could."

The Scene Left Behind

The outlet also reported that footage from the scene showed the emergency firetruck crushed up against the nose of the plane.

More details from BBC live said the aircraft, carrying 72 passengers and four crew members, had arrived from Montreal on Sunday evening and was traveling at about 24 mph.

A separate BBC update laid out the broader sequence of events. According to that timeline, the Air Canada flight departed Montreal at 10:12 p.m. ET, more than two hours behind schedule.

Minutes before 11:40 p.m., a Port Authority rescue and firefighting vehicle was dispatched to assist with a separate issue involving a plane at LaGuardia that had requested support. At about that same time, the aircraft collided with the truck on the ground while landing.

Emergency crews responded right away after the impact. By 3:09 a.m., LaGuardia said the airport was closed because of the incident, and around 3:30 a.m., the first portion of the National Transportation Safety Board team arrived.

At 4:48 a.m., Port Authority Executive Director Kathryn Garcia said two Air Canada pilots had died, and nine people remained in the hospital. Two Port Authority police officers were also badly injured.

Additionally, she said the airport would stay closed until at least 2:00 p.m. local time so investigators could continue processing the scene. Federal and local investigations are now underway.

Further updates said 41 passengers and crew members were taken to hospitals, along with two officers who had been inside the ground vehicle, while 32 of those hospitalized have since been released.

A Chaotic Aftermath

Authorities also warned travelers to brace for major disruption around the airport. The New York City Fire Department told the public to expect cancellations, road closures, traffic delays, and a heavy emergency presence near LaGuardia.

The chaos on the ground left stranded travelers trying to make sense of what had happened. In another BBC report, 26-year-old Katie Rojas said her flight to Chicago was already on the runway and prepared to depart when all planes were grounded.

"It tried taking off twice and both times literally stopped in its tracks," she said, explaining that after two and a half hours on board, passengers were told they had to evacuate. She added, "They said there was a smell coming from the plane. I don't know if that was just something they were saying."

After returning to the terminal, Rojas said she saw emergency vehicles everywhere and only later learned about the crash online. She was first rebooked for a 7:00 a.m. flight that was also canceled, then placed on a 3:20 p.m. departure, but said security was closed and she had no way to check her bags.

By that point, she had been waiting at the airport for 12 hours, hoping to finally get home. Reflecting on the crash, she said, "It's scary. You never know if it could have been one of us."

That context makes the audio even harder to hear. A fast-moving but controlled emergency response ended up with a runway shut down, lives lost, people injured and scared, an airport plunged into chaos, and a recording that now serves as a minute-by-minute account of how everything went wrong.