The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has released preliminary data retrieved from the black boxes of the Amazon Prime Air aircraft that crashed last Sunday at Miami International Airport, after veering off the runway during landing.
Initial findings indicate the aircraft landed at an excessive speed of 182 miles per hour, equivalent to 158 knots. It was also confirmed that one of the pilots raised concerns about their speed and that the crew attempted to abort the landing just seconds before the crash.
"The plane was coming in too fast, and the pilots were struggling to maintain control," aviation attorney Pablo Rojas told Telemundo 51.
As the aircraft neared the runway, one pilot consistently warned his colleague about their speed, and in a last-minute attempt, suggested aborting the landing. According to the NTSB, the cockpit voice recorders captured over two hours of high-quality audio, yet there was no clear verbal response to these warnings from the other pilot.
During the descent, multiple automated alerts about speed and low altitude were heard in the cockpit.
The recorder also indicated that as the aircraft began braking, the brakes were released, and engine power was increased. Shortly after, a request to go around was made by one of the pilots. Seconds later, the engines reduced power, and the brakes were reapplied.
Key Findings and Questions
A significant point of interest for experts is that the recordings do not show any deployment of the speed brakes or thrust reversers, systems critical for decelerating the aircraft upon landing.
"We still don't know if this was a pilot choice, if these systems were malfunctioning, or perhaps they were not armed for automatic deployment, which can also occur. These details remain unclear," noted attorney Rojas.
"Whether there was a mechanical failure or pilot error, typically in these investigations, we find multiple contributing factors," he added.
In addition to analyzing black box data, investigators interviewed the two crew members involved.
Jennifer Homendy, the NTSB Chair, stated that the agency prioritized hearing the pilots' accounts before releasing the full cockpit voice transcription.
The pilot, Joseph Carroll, aged 55 with 7,145 flight hours, and First Officer Jaime Felipe Silva Molina, aged 37 with 2,655 flight hours, sustained minor injuries and were discharged before meeting with investigators.
The crashed aircraft was a Boeing 767-300, built in 1994 and operated by cargo airline 21 Air under contract for Amazon Prime Air. The flight originated from Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
After overrunning the runway by approximately 1,300 feet, the plane breached a perimeter fence and collided with a van belonging to contractor Professional Ocean Service Corporation, which was transporting seven cleaning workers.
Tragically, the accident claimed the lives of five individuals traveling in the van, all of Cuban descent: Rolando Alemán León (55), Yoel Rodríguez Naranjo (53), Julio C. Pineda (75), Carlos Acosta Fajardo (53), and Javierkys Reyes Quevedo (47).
In response to the incident, Yaraisi Santiso Morejón, the widow of Yoel Rodríguez Naranjo, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit in Miami-Dade County Court against Amazon Inc., Amazon Air Cargo, 21 Air LLC, and the two pilots, alleging potential crew error, inadequate training, and the use of a 32-year-old aircraft.
Understanding the Amazon Plane Crash Investigation
What did the black boxes reveal about the Amazon plane crash?
The black boxes indicated that the aircraft landed at a high speed of 182 mph. The cockpit voice recorders captured attempts to abort the landing and warnings from one pilot about the excessive speed.
Were there any mechanical failures noted in the Amazon plane crash?
The investigation has not yet determined if there were mechanical failures. There was no evidence of speed brakes or thrust reversers being deployed, but it’s unclear if this was due to a system malfunction or pilot error.