It was “just pure luck’’ that the LaGuardia plane crash didn’t involve more fatalities — with the jet miraculously hitting the fire truck at an angle that avoided fuel supplies, an aviation-safety analyst said Monday.
Former FAA safety inspector David Soucie told CNN that the spot on the truck where the Air Canada passenger plane struck it minimized the destruction, which led to two pilots being killed and scores of passengers, crew and two cops wounded.
If the truck was 40 feet back or forward, “it would have struck against the wing, the fuel cells, the engines and would have created a huge fire and … many, many fatalities,” Soucie said.
“So as tragic as this is for the two that we’ve lost, just out of pure luck, that airplane hit in the middle of that fire truck and reduced the number of fatalities significantly.”
Dozens of travelers and other crew members were injured in the terrifying collision that took place around 11:45 p.m. Sunday.
The Port Authority fire truck at first had been given clearance to travel across the runway by an air-traffic controller — who then frantically attempted to stop the emergency vehicle after realizing a plane was coming in for landing on the strip, according to audio.
Video shows the plane smash right into the truck and drag it down part of the runway.
While more than 40 passengers and crew members were sent to the hospital, most of the injured victims have since been released, officials said Monday afternoon.
The two killed pilots were a pair of “young men at the start of their careers,” said FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford.
One of the deceased has been identified as Antoine Forest, the Toronto Star reported, citing his family.
