NTSB: Miami Crash Pilot Warned Plane Came In Too Fast

One of the pilots of an Amazon-contracted cargo plane that overran a Miami runway and killed five people repeatedly warned that the aircraft was coming in too fast, federal investigators said, according to flight recorder data released this week. The Boeing 767-33A cargo jet, operating as 21 Air Flight 7598 for Amazon’s Prime Air, barreled roughly 1,300 feet (396 meters) past the end of Runway 30 at Miami International Airport on Sept. 6, struck two vehicles on the ground, and came to rest in flames.

The National Transportation Safety Board said in a Sept. 9 investigative update that a pilot called for flaps to be set to 20 degrees about 1 minute and 42 seconds before the end of the cockpit voice recording, and the other pilot cautioned that they were too fast. That pilot continued to make comments about the aircraft’s excessive speed throughout the remainder of the recording, the NTSB said, with no consistent verbal response.

What the recorders revealed

According to the NTSB’s investigation page, the flight was a scheduled cargo flight from San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Miami and was the plane’s third flight of the day. The cockpit voice recorder captured more than two hours of good-quality audio, while the flight data recorder held approximately 54 hours of data across more than 400 parameters.

The flight data recorder painted a picture of an unstable approach. The nose and right main landing gear touched down at a groundspeed of 158 knots, with brakes applied at 146 knots. The left main gear touched down at 134 knots. Brakes were then released at 120 knots and the throttles were increased to a value consistent with go-around thrust — but four seconds later, at 117 knots, the throttles were reduced to idle and the brakes were reapplied.

The final recorded groundspeed was 65 knots. Critically, the NTSB said there was no indication in the data that speed brakes or thrust reversers — two key systems for slowing an aircraft on the ground — were ever deployed.

Automated cockpit warnings compounded the picture: the plane’s systems repeatedly called out “sink rate sink rate” and annunciated “too low terrain” multiple times in the final minute before touchdown. A pilot called for a go-around roughly 15 seconds before the end of the cockpit recording — after the aircraft had already touched down.

‘Plenty of time to slow down’

The findings have drawn sharp scrutiny from aviation safety veterans. Mike O’Donnell, a former FAA official who oversaw airport safety and crash investigations, told NPR that the crew had ample opportunity to correct their approach.

“You have plenty of time to slow down, plenty of time to say, let’s just do a go-around at two minutes out,” O’Donnell said.

Former airline pilot and safety expert Steve Arroyo questioned the crew’s coordination. “Where’s the coordination? Where’s the leadership here in terms of managing the flight deck? And following the trained guidelines set forth in the company’s flight manual?” he asked.

Mary Schiavo, a former Inspector General of the Transportation Department, wondered whether the pilot at the controls was the more senior captain while the less experienced first officer called out the warnings “and the junior pilot was not aggressive in challenging.”

Both pilots had relatively limited experience on the Boeing 767. Captain Joseph Carol, 55, had 7,145 flight hours and was rated on the type in May 2026, while First Officer Jaime Felipe Silva Molina, 37, had 2,655 hours and was rated in April 2025. Both survived the crash and were treated and released.

The five victims

All five people who died were in a van owned by Professional Ocean Service Corp., a contract cleaning company for airlines. NBC News reported that authorities identified them as Rolando Aleman Leon, 55; Yoel Rodriguez Naranjo, 53; Julio C. Pineda, 75; Carlos Acosta Fajardo, 53; and Javierkys Reyes Quevedo, 47. Five others were injured, including two who remained in critical condition.

The van, carrying seven employees, was struck as the aircraft left the runway. The plane then careened through a perimeter fence and hit a Toyota SUV on Northwest 67th Avenue outside the airport, before continuing into grass and striking a fence line separating an area where Tesla robotaxis were stationed.

NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy described the scene as “utter devastation,” saying the van was “torn apart.” In a statement, the cleaning company said its “hearts and prayers are with every employee and every family whose lives have been forever changed.”

Cargo, runway and a broader safety debate

The plane carried more than 32,000 pounds of cargo, primarily contact lenses, and no hazardous materials. Two of the airport’s four runways were closed after the crash, causing hundreds of flight delays and cancellations during the Labor Day holiday weekend.

A key question is whether Miami International should have been equipped with an Engineered Material Arresting System (EMAS), which uses crushable materials to stop aircraft that overrun runways. As BBC News reported, Homendy called the runway’s lack of EMAS a “key” part of the investigation. About 70 U.S. airports have EMAS, but the FAA does not require it where a 1,000-foot runway safety area exists — a standard Miami meets.

BBC Verify also found an active thunderstorm near the airport shortly before the crash, with winds gusting up to 26 knots (48 km/h). Investigators are examining whether a tailwind contributed to the overrun. Flight-tracking site Flightradar24 estimated, based on NTSB data, that the plane was nearly halfway down the 9,360-foot runway when it first touched down.

The aircraft itself was 32 years old, originally built to carry passengers and flown by several foreign airlines for more than two decades before being converted to a cargo plane in 2015, according to USA Today. The final flight was operated by 21 Air, a North Carolina-registered cargo carrier that has flown packages for Amazon since 2024 and operates about eight planes for the retailer.

Legal fallout begins

On Sept. 9, lawyers filed the first wrongful death lawsuit in Florida on behalf of Yaraisi Santiso Morejon, the widow of driver Yoel Rodriguez Naranjo. The suit names the pilots, Amazon, the companies that own and lease the plane, and 21 Air, alleging safety deficiencies the company knew or should have known about. Attorney Mike Morgan said it is “highly likely” this is a case of pilot error, adding that the aircraft “should have made a fly-around attempt, a go-around attempt, and reapproach that landing.”

More lawsuits are expected. NTSB Chair Homendy has urged anyone with information about 21 Air to come forward.

What’s next

The NTSB investigation remains ongoing. A full cockpit voice recorder transcript will not be released until later in the process, and the agency will eventually issue safety recommendations. It is the second crash of a U.S. cargo jet in less than a year, following the October 2025 UPS crash at Louisville’s Muhammad Ali International Airport, which killed three pilots and 12 people on the ground.

That proximity has renewed broader questions about cargo aviation safety — including training standards, aircraft age, and runway protections. The NTSB has declined to speculate on why speed brakes and thrust reversers were never deployed, saying the analysis is still in its early stages. Until the full record is assembled, the warning callouts captured on the flight recorder stand as the most vivid evidence of a landing that went badly wrong.