The investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) reconstructed on Wednesday the exact sequence of the last 30 seconds of the Amazon cargo flight that went off the runway at Miami International Airport on Sunday, leaving five dead and five injured, according to preliminary data presented by the agency.
The Boeing 767-300 operated by 21 Air for Amazon Prime Air landed at 158 knots, a high speed for that phase of the flight.
Seven seconds after the initial contact with the runway, the brakes began to engage as the aircraft was rolling at 146 knots, and four seconds later, the left main wheel touched down on the asphalt at 134 knots, as detailed by the lead investigator, Chihoon Shin, during a press conference.
What happened next is one of the most critical points of the investigation: 15 seconds before the end of the recording, the brakes were suddenly released and the thrust levers were increased to values consistent with a go-around maneuver.
However, just four seconds later, the crew reversed that decision: the power was reduced to idle again and the brakes were reapplied, remaining active until the end of the recording.
The final speed recorded by the black box was 65 knots, when the plane had already exceeded the end of the runway and was heading towards the vehicles parked outside the airport perimeter.
A noteworthy finding that has captured the attention of investigators is that the records do not show any evidence that the crew deployed the speed brakes or the thrust reversers, two systems specifically designed to slow down the aircraft during landing.
"There is no evidence in the recorded data that the air brakes or the thrust reversers were deployed," Shin stated, although he preferred not to jump to conclusions: "I won't speculate on what could have been at this moment."
For her part, the chairwoman of the NTSB, Jennifer Homendy, confirmed that the cockpit voice recorder contained "more than two hours of good quality audio," but the agency decided not to release its content until the interviews with the pilots, scheduled for this Wednesday, are completed.
"We will interview the pilots and want to hear their account of the accident before releasing the transcript of the cockpit voice recorder," Homendy explained.
After leaving the runway, the Boeing crossed a perimeter fence, collided with a Toyota Corolla Cross LE, and then struck a white van from the contracting company Professional Ocean Service Corporation that was transporting seven cleaning workers. The five fatalities in the Miami air tragedy were traveling in that van; none were on board the plane.
Among the victims is Rolando Alemán León, 55 years old and of Cuban descent, who had started working at that company only in January of this year. The other four deceased have been identified as Yoel Rodríguez Naranjo (53), Julio C. Pineda (75), Carlos Acosta Fajardo (53), and Javierkys Reyes Quevedo (47), all originally from Cuba.
Miami-Dade Sheriff Rosie Cordero Stutz reported that three injured individuals remain hospitalized: two in critical condition and one stable.
Both pilots survived the accident. A video captured the moment when one of them jumped out of the cockpit and ran away while the plane was burning.
The Miami Airport lacks the EMAS system, a bed of deformable material found at the end of runways in over 120 airports across the United States, which the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) credits with saving at least 497 lives in 26 incidents.
The NTSB estimates that it will remain at the scene for about a week collecting physical evidence, and that the complete investigation—which will include operational documents, maintenance records, and additional interviews—will take months to conclude.
Related videos:
Filed under: