In brief
A flight attendant, Solange Tremblay, was ejected from her seat during a collision involving an Air Canada plane and a fire truck at New York's LaGuardia Airport. Despite sustaining multiple fractures to her leg, she survived the incident, which experts are calling miraculous due to the force of the collision. Aviation safety has come into question following the tragic deaths of the pilot and co-pilot during this landing mishap.
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.” 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 called Tremblay’s survival a miracle when “compared to the destruction of the nose of the airplane.” He noted that the flight attendant’s seat is a robust structure designed to withstand significant crash forces, underscoring the severity of the incident.In previous incidents, such as the 2013 crash of Asiana Airlines Flight 214, similar circumstances led to injuries among flight attendants when they were thrown during the landing mishap. Despite the tragic loss of life in the recent Air Canada incident, Tremblay's survival highlights the complexities of aviation safety.
