What to know about the Amazon cargo plane crash in Miami that killed 5 workers in a van

Investigators are still trying to determine what caused an Amazon cargo jet to overshoot a runway in Miami and plow into two vehicles, killing five people on the ground.

The Boeing 767 hit a van on Miami International Airport property on Sunday before ramming through a fence and hitting an SUV on a public street. Five people who were a part of a cleaning crew in the van died while two survived. The pilot and co-pilot also lived.

National Transportation Safety Board Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy called the scene at the airport “utter devastation.”

The crash closed the Miami airport for hours Sunday and two of the four runways remained shutdown through late Tuesday evening as NTSB investigators gathered evidence. More than 225 flights were canceled and hundreds more were delayed, officials said.

Here’s what to know about the crash.

Jet spent a long time over the runway before touching down

The NTSB said the plane barreled roughly 1,300 feet (396 meters) past the end of the runway.

It was landing after a two-hour flight from Puerto Rico as storms brewed around the Miami airport.

Homendy called the scene “utter devastation,” with pieces of the vehicles, air bags, destroyed navigational equipment and fencing along the plane’s route. She said she had to be careful because jet fuel was still all around 24 hours after the crash.

Strong winds over 25 knots were reported Sunday afternoon. Experts who viewed video of the landing said it appears that a strong tail wind propelled the plane far down the runway past the point where it was supposed to land. The plane remained airborne without flaring the nose to force the wheels onto the ground.

It is not immediately clear why the pilot didn’t abort landing and go around to try again.

Air traffic controllers also had not changed the approach to the runway to allow the plane to land into a headwind. Airports routinely change which direction planes land on a runway when the winds shift.

All the people killed were in a cleaning service van

Amazon said in a statement that it is cooperating with the investigation and the company’s deepest sympathies go to the victims and their families.

The five people killed were all in a van owned by Professional Ocean Service Corp., a company that cleans planes. The company said it wouldn’t comment on the crash out of respect for the families who lost loved ones.

“Our employees are far more than the people who work beside us each day, they are family, and they are deeply loved. Our hearts and prayers are with every employee and every family whose lives have been forever changed,” the company said in a statement Tuesday.

The Miami-Dade sheriff identified the deceased as Rolando Aleman Leon, 55; Yoel Rodriguez Naranjo, 53; Julio C. Pineda, 75; Carlos Acosta Fajardo, 53; and Javierkys Reyes Quevedo, 47.

The jet started as a passenger plane before converting to cargo

The 32-year-old Boeing 767 was originally built to carry passengers and flew for several airlines in foreign countries for more than two decades before being converted to a cargo plane in 2015, according to flight-tracking site Flightradar24.

The final flight was operated by 21 Air, a cargo carrier based in North Carolina.

Homendy said the jet’s ownership history, maintenance records and operations by 21 Air would all be reviewed by NTSB investigators.

It’s the second crash of a cargo jet in the U.S. in less than a year. A UPS plane crashed after losing its engine while accelerating down the runway at Louisville’s Muhammad Ali International Airport in October. The crash killed all three pilots and 12 people on the ground. Twenty-three more were injured.

Miami airport lack
ed syste
m to stop speeding jets

One focus of the NTSB investigation will be on the lack of a system to slow and stop speeding jets at the end of runways.

About 120 airports in the U.S. have the lightweight, crushable material that the Federal Aviation Administration says has saved around 500 lives. Miami does not.

Even without a runway excursion system, Miami’s airport appears to be compliant with federal rules because it has a 1,000-foot (305-meter) safety buffer at the end of its runways, experts said.

Homendy said her agency’s goal is to prevent tragedies, but runway excursions continue to happen even after the board has suggested installing the systems in the past.

“Our recommendations must be implemented or we’re going to be here again,” she said.