Investigator in the NTSB vehicle recorder laboratory with the flight data recorder from 21 Air LLC Flight 7598 that overran the end of Runway 30 at Miami International Airport (MIA). Photo courtesy of NTSB.
The National Transportation Safety Board has released preliminary flight data showing that the crew of an Amazon Prime Air Boeing 767 cargo flight may have considered aborting the landing seconds before the aircraft overran the runway at Miami, killing five people.
NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy briefed reporters Tuesday on data recovered from the aircraft’s recorders. Thirty seconds before the end of the cockpit voice recording, the nose gear and right main gear touched down at 158 knots groundspeed. The left main gear followed at 134 knots, 19 seconds before the recording ended.
At the 15-second mark, brakes were released and throttles advanced to values consistent with go-around thrust — suggesting the crew may have been initiating a rejected landing. Eleven seconds before the end, brakes were reapplied. The final recorded groundspeed was 65 knots.
The NTSB also noted no indication in the recorded data that speed brakes or thrust reversers were deployed at any point during the sequence.
Homendy said the agency will interview both pilots and plans to release the cockpit voice recorder readout. The captain, 55, received his type rating for the aircraft in May of this year and has logged 7,145 total flight hours. The first officer, 37, was certified on the 767 in April of last year and has 2,655 hours.
The aircraft overshot the runway and struck two vehicles — a van carrying seven occupants and an SUV. Five people died in the crash.
The NTSB has not identified a cause, and the agency’s investigation is ongoing. Pilot interviews have not yet taken place.
