For nearly two minutes before and after touchdown, a pilot on the Amazon cargo plane that overshot a Miami runway and resulted in five deaths repeatedly cautioned their counterpart that the aircraft was moving too fast, according to flight information made public Wednesday. A National Transportation Safety Board summary of cockpit voice recordings indicated that the other pilot failed to provide a consistent verbal response to the alerts. The aircraft landed awkwardly, briefly tried to take off again, and crashed into a van carrying the five victims. The Sunday afternoon incident occurred when the plane barreled roughly 1,300 feet past the runway end, striking a van of plane-cleaning workers and a compact SUV before sliding across a public road and catching fire. All five fatalities were occupants of the van, while five others sustained injuries, including two remaining in critical condition on Tuesday. Both surviving pilots spoke with investigators on Wednesday. Former Federal Aviation Administration official Mike O’Donnell noted that when the pilot first flagged the excessive speed, the crew had multiple options to decelerate, such as extending spoilers, reducing throttles, lowering landing gear, or abandoning the landing entirely to circle back. Flight data recorder information released late Tuesday highlighted the aircraft’s instability amid strong winds during its approach, followed by a brief moment where the pilots released the brakes and advanced the throttles to attempt a retry, only to abandon that maneuver four seconds later. Cockpit audio also captured automated alerts concerning descent speed and terrain, which O’Donnell indicated point to an unsteady approach and improper configuration. The aircraft touched down far down the runway on its right and nose landing gear, limiting remaining stopping distance, potentially compounded by tailwinds from strong storm winds. Flightradar24 estimated from NTSB data that the plane was nearly halfway down the 9,360-foot runway upon first touchdown. A full transcript of the cockpit audio will be released later. Several experts suggested the crew should have aborted the landing while still airborne. Safety expert and former airline pilot Steve Arroyo stated the findings reflect poor cockpit teamwork and coordination, while former Transportation Department Inspector General Mary Schiavo questioned whether a junior first officer gave unheeded warnings to a more senior captain. The 32-year-old Boeing 767, converted to cargo in 2015, was operated by North Carolina-based cargo carrier 21 Air, which has flown packages for Amazon since 2024. NTSB investigators are reviewing the jet’s ownership, weather conditions, maintenance records, and 21 Air’s operations. This marks the second U.S. cargo jet crash in under a year, following an October crash in Louisville that killed three pilots and 12 people on the ground.
Source: npr.org
