Voyageur 66
Two Pilots Killed After Air Canada Jet Hit a Fire Truck at LaGuardia, and Canada Is Hosting 18 Countries to Build a Defence Bank.
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Two Pilots Dead After Air Canada Jet Hits Fire Truck at LaGuardia
An Air Canada Express flight from Montreal hit an airport fire truck while landing at New York's LaGuardia Airport late Sunday, killing both pilots and injuring more than 70 people.
Flight AC8646, a CRJ-900 operated by Jazz Aviation, was slowing down on Runway 4 around 11:45 p.m. when it hit a Port Authority rescue vehicle at about 30 km/h. The fire truck wasn't there for the Air Canada plane. It had been cleared to cross the runway to reach a United flight that reported a strange smell. Air traffic control audio captured the tower controller ordering the truck to stop, seconds before the collision. Reports are that the on-duty controller was working alone, handling both ground and tower operations.
The crash crushed the nose of the Canadian plane. Of the 72 passengers and four crew on board, 41 were taken to hospital. Nine remained with serious injuries as of Monday morning. The two officers on the fire truck were also hospitalized but in stable condition. LaGuardia stayed was shut through the morning with no confirmed reopening time. The NTSB has sent a team, as is their custom.
It's the first fatal incident involving an Air Canada flight in more than 40 years, since Flight 797 in 1983. For the thousands of Canadians who fly the Montreal-New York corridor every week, this is an incident that lands close to home.
Read more: CBC News / NBC News
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A photo from the old country:
Canada Is Hosting 18 Countries to Build a Defence Bank
Eighteen countries sat down in Montreal on Monday for the first round of negotiations to create a brand new multilateral institution - a Defence, Security and Resilience Bank modeled on the World Bank, but for military spending.
The idea is straightforward. NATO allies have committed to spending 5% of GDP on defence, and most of them need financing to get there. The DSRB would offer long-term, low-cost loans for defence projects, and initial contributions would count toward that 5% target. Three rounds of talks will hammer out the charter, pick a headquarters city, and appoint a CEO. The final round wraps in April.
Canada is playing host and cheerleader. PM Mark Carney has been talking up the bank with world leaders all year, and Isabelle Hudon, CEO of the Business Development Bank of Canada, is leading Canada's delegation. Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, and Halifax are all competing to land the permanent headquarters, which is expected to bring about 3,500 jobs. All six major Canadian banks have endorsed the project, and six of the twelve international financial institutions backing it are Canadian. JPMorgan Chase, Deutsche Bank, and ING are among the others.
Canada's financial commitment hasn't been finalized but is expected to top $1 billion (Voyageur 59). For a country that spent decades being lectured about underspending on defence, hosting the negotiations to build the institution that finances everyone else's military is quite the rejig.
Read more: The Globe and Mail / The Globe and Mail