They came from different corners of Canada and took different paths into aviation, but their stories met in the cockpit of an Air Canada Express regional jet on a night that would change dozens of lives. Antoine Forest, from Quebec, built his career through years of persistence in aviation jobs and smaller aircraft before reaching the flight deck. Mackenzie Gunther, an Ontario-trained pilot and Seneca Polytechnic graduate, was only beginning the career he had worked toward for years. Both were killed when Air Canada Express Flight 8646 collided with an airport fire truck while landing at New York’s LaGuardia Airport on March 22, 2026.

In the moments before impact, investigators and witness accounts suggest the pilots were still trying to manage an almost unimaginable emergency. The cockpit absorbed the worst of the collision, while most of the 76 people on board survived, though many were injured. Early reporting has credited heavy braking and the crew’s final actions with reducing the force of the crash and preventing an even greater loss of life, even as investigators continue sorting out exactly what happened on the runway.

For the families left behind, the public details only tell part of the story. They lost sons, brothers, and partners—men whose lives stretched far beyond the final headlines. Friends and colleagues have described both pilots as deeply committed to flying, shaped by hard work, ambition, and a love of the profession that defined their adult lives. In the aftermath, that personal loss has been felt not only in their homes and communities, but across an aviation world that recognized how much promise was cut short.

What remains now is not just the wreckage or the investigation, but the memory of two men who stayed at their posts during the worst seconds of the flight. Passengers lived through panic, smoke, and shock—and then the realization that they were still alive. As investigators examine failed alert systems, runway procedures, and the truck’s lack of a transponder, the human truth remains painfully clear: two young pilots died in the cockpit, and many others got the chance to go home.