One of the pilots of the Amazon Air cargo jet that crashed on a runway at Miami Airport Sunday warned that they were descending too fast as they attempted to land the plane, according to recordings released Wednesday.
A summary of cockpit voice recordings compiled by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said the fellow pilot never gave “a consistent verbal response” to the warnings.
The comments were made roughly one minute and 42 seconds before the cockpit voice recorder ended its recording.
The 32-year-old Boeing 767 jet overran the runway by roughly 1,300 feet, touching down awkwardly. Fifteen seconds after touching down, one of the pilots called for aborting the landing and the engine throttles were increased to a value consistent with go-around thrust, the NTSB said.
At this point the plane was nearing the end of the runway but still travelling at 138 mph, according to data from Flightradar24 based on initial NTSB disclosures. But four seconds later, the throttles were reduced to idle power and there were then sounds similar to the plane departing the runway’s paved surface, the NTSB said.
After briefly attempting to take off again, the plane smashed into two vehicles on the ground, killing five people in one van and injuring another five. The five people killed in the crash were members of a cleaning crew, Miami-Dade County sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz said.
According to the board, there was no indication in the recorded data that speed brakes or thrust reversers were deployed to help slow the plane.
The pilots identified were the flight’s captain, Joseph Carroll, 55, and first officer Jaime Felipe Silva Molina, 37, both of whom were hospitalized after the crash but since released.
Although much of the attention following the crash went to Amazon given that it is part of the e-commerce giant’s fleet, Amazon’s contracting model effectively skirts the company from any liability for the crash.
Although the Amazon Air planes still use the tech titan’s branding, cargo airline 21 Air operates the aircraft, maintains operational control of the jet and employs the flight crew. At least eight jets in Amazon’s Air fleet belong to 21 Air, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.
The company runs a similar model for its ground delivery partners, which has been a subject of controversy due to the control the Big Tech firm often can exercise over the third-party subcontractors and their employees.
According to various media reports, multiple former pilots had raised concerns about 21 Air’s safety protocols ahead of the crash. One pilot accused the company of not giving pilots enough time off between flights and creating unusually long checklists. That pilot alleged he was fired by 21 Air in July 2022 upon raising the concerns.
Another pilot said he had personal knowledge of people being discouraged from logging safety concerns in the company system on numerous occasions.
The widow of the driver of the van carrying airport workers killed in Sunday’s incident has already filed suit, alleging negligence. Both Amazon and 21 Air are named in the lawsuit as defendants, alongside pilots Carroll and Molina.
Cargo ship catches fire in Qinqdao Port, 25 confirmed dead
As more information on the Amazon crash comes to light, another incident involving a cargo carrier at sea claimed the lives of more than two dozen people.
A cargo ship docked in a shipyard at China’s Qingdao Port caught fire when it was undergoing maintenance, with the blaze killing 25 people, according to Chinese state media outlet Xinhua.
A total of 42 people had been on the vessel, with 12 of them were safely evacuated. Five were injured and taken to the hospital, and they remained in a stable condition.
The vessel has been identified as the Liberia-flagged bulk carrier Ocean Melody, which had been in Qingdao since Aug. 31.
The fire started around 11 a.m. Thursday and was extinguished by 2:30 p.m. local time. It is unclear what caused the fire. An eyewitness told France’s AFP news agency he saw thick smoke rising from the ship, but he heard no explosion.
The ship was stationed at the Beihai Shipbuilding Co. shipyard, a repair facility controlled by the state-owned China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC).
Prior to finding all the deceased, China’s President leader Xi Jinping called for urgent search and rescue efforts while Premier Li Qiang stressed the need to “prevent secondary disasters.”
