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Flight attendant thrown from Air Canada plane survives in a 'total miracle'

Published Mar 24, 2026 10:54 am
Officials investigate the site, Monday, March 23, 2026, where an Air Canada jet came to rest after colliding with a Port Authority firetruck at LaGuardia Airport, shortly after landing Sunday night in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Officials investigate the site, Monday, March 23, 2026, where an Air Canada jet came to rest after colliding with a Port Authority firetruck at LaGuardia Airport, shortly after landing Sunday night in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
NEW YORK (AP) — A flight attendant still strapped in her seat survived being thrown from an Air Canada plane that collided with a fire truck at New York's LaGuardia Airport, her daughter said Monday.
It's a "total miracle,” Sarah Lepine told Canadian news station TVA Nouvelles.
She said her mother, Solange Tremblay, had multiple fractures to one leg and will need surgery but otherwise was OK. An aviation safety expert said she likely was helped by being in a seat with a four-point restraint used by crew members.
“I’m still trying to understand how all this happened,” Lepine said, “but she definitely has a guardian angel watching over her.”
An Air Canada jet and Port Authority fire truck sit on the runway at LaGuardia Airport, Monday, March 23, 2026, after colliding with each other after the jet landed Sunday night in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
An Air Canada jet and Port Authority fire truck sit on the runway at LaGuardia Airport, Monday, March 23, 2026, after colliding with each other after the jet landed Sunday night in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
The jet, carrying more than 70 passengers, was landing when it collided with a fire truck that was responding to a problem at another plane Sunday night. The nose of the Air Canada plane was destroyed, and the pilot and copilot were killed.
Aviation safety expert Jeff Guzzetti, too, called Tremblay’s survival a miracle when “compared to the destruction of the nose of the airplane.”
“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, a former federal crash investigator.
“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.”
Firefighters and investigators examine the site, Monday, March 23, 2026, where an Air Canada jet came to rest after colliding with a Port Authority firetruck at LaGuardia Airport, after landing Sunday night in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Firefighters and investigators examine the site, Monday, March 23, 2026, where an Air Canada jet came to rest after colliding with a Port Authority firetruck at LaGuardia Airport, after landing Sunday night in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
In 2013, at least two flight attendants were injured when they were thrown from an Asiana Airlines flight that crashed into a sea wall while landing at San Francisco International Airport. There were 291 people aboard Asiana Flight 214, and three girls were killed.

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