Air Canada pilot Antoine Forest, co-pilot Mackenzie Gunther among two killed in LaGuardia crash

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: Antoine Forest has been named as one of the pilots who died in the deadly Air Canada crash at New York's LaGuardia Airport.

When Air Canada Express Flight 8646 hit a Port Authority fire truck while landing on March 22, Forest, a 30-year-old pilot from Quebec, was one of the two people who died. The crash has prompted a federal investigation into runway safety and air traffic coordination.

Antoine Forest loved flying

“He flew his first plane when he was 16 years old,” grieving Jeannette Gagnier told the Toronto Star on Monday, March 23, of her great-nephew, Antoine Forest.

“He was always taking courses and flying. He never stopped,” Gagnier said.

“It’s a very bad day for me,” she added.

The plane, coming from Montreal, hit the car shortly after landing, causing a lot of damage to the cockpit area. The crash killed both pilots, but many of the passengers and crew members survived, many with only minor injuries.

“These were two young men at the start of their careers, so it’s an absolute tragedy that we’re sitting here with their loss,” FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said at an afternoon press conference.

Forest was listed as a first officer for Jazz Aviation, which was operating the doomed flight, since December 2022, according to a LinkedIn profile under his name.

Gagnier told the Star that Forest, a Coteau-du-Lac, Quebec native, and his younger brother would spend the summers with her and her husband in Hawkesbury.

The Air Line Pilots Association remembered the two pilots as dedicated to passenger safety.

“The loss of our two fellow crewmembers onboard Flight 8646 is a profound tragedy,” union President Jason Ambrosi said in a statement.

Co-pilot Mackenzie Gunther identified as second victim

Mackenzie Gunther, 22, from Peterborough, Ontario, Canada, was the co-pilot who died in the LaGuardia plane crash.

Gunther was the first officer on the flight with Forest. Officials said he had just started working in aviation after getting her degree in aviation technology in Canada in 2023.

The ambitious grad began working as a professional pilot “immediately” after completing the program, which is based at the school’s Peterborough, Ontario, campus. 

“Through the Jazz Aviation Pathways Program, he joined Jazz Aviation immediately after graduation and began his professional flying career,” Seneca Polytechnic wrote.  “Seneca sends our deepest condolences to Mr Gunther’s family and friends, and to his former colleagues and professors. He will be deeply missed.” 

Roughly 40 of the 70 passengers and surviving crew members were taken to the hospital, with many suffering only minor injuries. Most victims were released by Monday morning.

Flags at Seneca Polytechnic’s campuses will be lowered to half-mast on Tuesday in honor of Gunther.