Amazon Cargo Plane's Pilot and Co-Pilot Interviewed Following Miami Crash

On Wednesday, investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) conducted interviews with the pilot and co-pilot of the Amazon cargo plane that veered off the runway at Miami International Airport on Sunday, resulting in five fatalities and several injuries, as reported by Telemundo 51.

The lead investigator, Chihoon Shin, emphasized the critical nature of these interviews: "It's crucial to talk with the crew to gain their insight on how they were controlling the aircraft, which is key to understanding the incident. This information is indispensable to our investigation."

Shin noted that they have over two hours of valuable cockpit audio recordings, but these alone do not provide a complete picture. "The accounts from the crew will fill in gaps regarding actions they might recall taking but didn't verbalize. We need a comprehensive understanding of these details before we can fully analyze the power lever operations in this case," Shin added.

Details on Flight 798 Crew Members

The crew members of Prime Air Flight 798 are Joseph Carroll, 55, and First Officer Jaime Felipe Silva Molina, 37, both of whom sustained minor injuries in the accident and were released from the hospital before meeting with investigators.

Carroll resides in Colorado and is employed by 21 Air, a North Carolina-based cargo airline, according to his LinkedIn profile. Silva Molina lives in South Florida, per public records.

NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy disclosed during a press briefing that Carroll had logged 7,145 flight hours as of March 31, while Silva Molina had accumulated 2,655 hours by August 13.

The crew was operating Prime Air Flight 798 for Amazon aboard a Boeing 767-300 manufactured in 1994. The flight originated from Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Crash Details and Witness Accounts

Upon landing on runway 30 in Miami, the aircraft overran the pavement's edge, traveled approximately 396 meters beyond the runway, and collided with a van belonging to Professional Ocean Service Corporation, which was carrying seven cleaning workers, as well as a civilian utility vehicle located outside the airport perimeter.

A witness identified as Abraham Altamar, who was working in a nearby warehouse, lent his phone to one of the pilots to call his wife after the crash. "He was shaking, in shock. A colleague asked him, 'what happened?' and he mentioned something about the brakes," Altamar recounted.

This mention of brakes is significant given preliminary flight recorder data, which shows no evidence that the spoilers or thrust reversers—critical systems for decelerating the aircraft during landing—were deployed.

Furthermore, the records suggest the crew briefly attempted a go-around maneuver—to abort the landing and retry the approach—before abandoning the effort and trying to stop the plane.

Video footage captured by a witness showed one crew member jumping from the cockpit door of the burning plane and running away.

Casualties and Legal Actions

The crash claimed the lives of five individuals—Rolando Alemán, Yoel Rodríguez Naranjo, Julio C. Pineda, Carlos Acosta Fajardo, and Javierkis Reyes Quevedo—who were traveling in the van. Three other individuals were critically injured and transported to a trauma center.

In parallel with the investigation, the widow of one of the deceased Cuban victims has filed a lawsuit against Amazon, while other victims' families have sought legal representation.

The NTSB has stated it will not release the cockpit voice recorder content until the pilots' full testimonies have been heard, to prevent technical data from influencing their accounts.

The formal investigation, which encompasses the analysis of both black boxes at the Washington laboratory, is expected to take several months.