The Amazon freighter aircraft that crashed two days ago at Miami International Airport didn’t follow normal steps for slowing down during landing and was carrying more than 32,000 pounds of contact lenses from Puerto Rico, National Transportation Safety Board officials said during a news conference Tuesday evening.
A large number of manufacturers have contact lens factories in Puerto Rico.
The Boeing 767-300 converted freighter hovered well past the normal runway zone and then had difficulty getting all three landing gear on the ground before running off the runway, plowing into two vehicles and fences before coming to a stop in a grassy area across a public road, leaving five people dead and several injured. The pilots did not deploy critical systems meant to slow an aircraft upon landing and, in fact, seconds before coming to rest the throttles were set to full power, according to a description of flight data provided by Chihoon Shin, the National Transportation Safety Board’s investigator in charge.
When the Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) plane touched down with its nose and right main landing gear the plane had a ground speed of 181 mph. Seven seconds later the brakes were applied, reducing the ground speed to 168 mph. Four seconds later the left main landing gear touched down at a ground speed of 154 mph. Four seconds after that the brakes were released and the throttles were increased to a thrust level consistent with a plane trying to execute a go-around. The throttles were quickly reduced to idle power and the brakes were reapplied, with the final speed recorded at 75 mph.
Investigators on Wednesday will interview the two pilots of the Amazon cargo jet that overran the runway, plowed into two vehicles and two sets of fences before coming to a stop in a grassy area across a public road, leaving five people dead and several injured. The pilots worked for Amazon contractor 21 Air and were identified by local authorities as Captain Joseph Carol, 55, and 37-year-old First Officer Jaime Felipe Silva Molina.
21 Air’s chief pilot and assistant chief pilot will also be interviewed tomorrow. On Tuesday, investigators interviewed 21 Air’s flight dispatcher, who is responsible for preflight planning, checking notices to airmen, monitoring weather and tracking the flight, NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homandy told reporters.
Why It Matters: Investigators hope to learn lessons that can prevent other accidents, such as whether the pilots made any mistakes and did 21 Air follow proper safety procedures.
The cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder are currently being analyzed in Washington, D.C., and the NTSB anticipates providing a readout of the voice recording on Wednesday. Crew accounts will help fill in some of the blanks about actions taken that might not have been verbalized during the flight, she said in remarks that were live streamed.
Carol received his type rating for the 767-300 in May. According to his records, he has 7,145 hours of flight experience. Molina added the 767 type rating to his pilot’s license in April 2025. He has 2,655 hours of flight experience. The Federal Aviation Administration requires 1,500 hours to hold a pilots license to fly for major commercial airlines.
On Tuesday, investigators collected perishable evidence at the scene of the accident, which included taking pictures and videos, gathering drone footage, and measuring tire marks on the runway.
Two of Miami airport’s four runways have been closed since Sunday afternoon. Homandy said a section of Runway 8 was returned to service late Tuesday, allowing departures in an easterly direction.
Click here for more FreightWaves/American Shipper stories by Eric Kulisch.
Write to Eric Kulisch at ekulisch@freightwaves.com.
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