They came from different corners of Canada, took different roads to the cockpit. On Sunday evening, they found themselves on the same flight, and what the passengers would later say about them is more than any obituary could.The Air Canada Express CRJ-900 that collided with a fire truck at LaGuardia Airport late Sunday had two pilots aboard. Both were killed when the plane struck a Port Authority vehicle on the runway, making them the only fatalities in a crash that sent 41 people to the hospital.In the days since, details about who these men were — where they came from and how hard they worked to reach that cockpit — have surfaced. So has something a passenger said from the tarmac, still shaken, that reframes the entire tragedy.

The pilot at the controls was Antoine Forest, a Quebec native from Coteau-du-Lac, a small town southwest of Montreal, about 20 kilometres east of the Ontario border.His path to the cockpit was anything but a straight line. According to his LinkedIn profile, he began with Air Saguenay, flying bush planes and training as an aircraft maintenance engineer apprentice.He later worked at Canadian Helicopters Limited before moving to Exact Air, where he rose from apprentice to captain. In December 2022, he joined Jazz Aviation LP as a first officer based in Montreal — the role he held at the time of the crash.His Facebook page showed a man who lived fully off the clock, too: hiking, kayaking, sailing, and rock climbing all featured regularly.