LaGuardia collision comes on anniversary of another fatal crash: A look at recent plane tragedies, close calls

The deadly crash between an Air Canada plane and a Port Authority emergency vehicle Sunday night, has left travelers shaken.

However, although flying remains one of the safest modes of transportations, accidents do happen — although rare.

In a stroke of tragic irony, Sunday’s deadly incident comes 34 years to the date after another horrific crash involving a plane that took off from LaGuardia Airport.

On Sunday, March 22, 1992, USAir Flight 405 attempted takeoff from runway 13 at LaGuardia Airport to Cleveland with 47 passengers, two flight crew members and two cabin crew members on board.

The airplane, which originally took off from Jacksonville, Florida and was heading to Cleveland with a stop at LaGuardia faced poor weather, deicing and taxiing delays at the New York-based airport.

According to the accident report by the National Transportation Safety Board, the plan began to veer to the left shortly after takeoff.

“The first officer stated that they began rolling to the left, just like we lost lift. He stated that as the captain leveled the wings, they headed toward the blackness over the water and that he joined the captain on the controls,” the report said in part. The first officer said that they seemed to agree that the airplane was not going to fly and that their control inputs were in unison. They used right rudder to maneuver the airplane back toward the ground and avoid the water. They continued to try to hold the nose up to impart in a flat attitude…The last thing he remembered was an orange and white building that disappeared under the nose. He recalled a flash, a jolt, a rumbling along the ground, and then a sudden stop.”

The airplane eventually came to stop although the fuselage and cockpit ended submerged in water at the edge of Flushing Bay.

The captain, one of the cabin crew members, and 25 passengers died. The airplane was destroyed by the impact and subsequent fire.

It was subsequently concluded that ice on its wings prompted USAir Flight 405’s deadly crash.

RECENT INCIDENTS AT LAGUARDIA

However, within recent years there a few other noteworthy incidents at LaGuardia airport.

Last year, two CRJ-900 regional jets collided on taxiways at LaGuardia. One flight attendant was injured in this incident.

The preliminary report in that incident notes that the ground controller instructed the outbound Flight 5155 to “give way” to another plane on the ground (Flight 5047). The flight crew read back the instructions, but the pilot told investigators he didn’t the recall hearing the instruction to yield. He said he was focused on calculating performance numbers for the landing, according to the report.

In 2016, Eastern Air Lines Flight 3452 skidded off runway but was stopped safely by EMAS. There were no injuries. The year prior, a Delta Air Lines flight (Flight 1086) also skidded off runway because of snow resulting in 24 minor injuries.

Meanwhile in 2013, Southwest Airlines Flight 345 had to perform a hard landing because of a collapsed nose gear. Nine people were injured.

However, one of the most memorable incidents became known as the “Miracle on the Hudson.” In 2009, US Airways Flight 1549 had an emergency landing on the Hudson River after bird strikes. All 155 passengers aboard survived.