Investigators Examine Miami Cargo Plane Crash That Killed Five

Federal investigators are preparing to examine what caused an Amazon cargo plane to overrun a runway at Miami International Airport, killing at least five people and injuring five others.

The aircraft left the runway at about 2pm on Sunday after arriving from San Juan, Puerto Rico, and crossed a road used by warehouse workers and businesses surrounding the airport. Three people were critically injured and two others were taken to hospital with less serious injuries, officials said.

It was not immediately clear whether the pilots survived or whether all those killed were in vehicles struck by the aircraft.

The plane came to rest beside a roadway near two semi-trucks and was engulfed in flames. The pilot and co-pilot were trapped in the cockpit, while several people were trapped in vehicles, according to Miami-Dade Rescue Fire Chief Ray Jadallah. Crews also had to free a person trapped beneath a vehicle.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is expected to provide more details about the investigation on Monday, with its chairwoman, Jennifer Homendy, due to hold a news conference.

Investigators are likely to examine how far down the runway the aircraft travelled before touching down. The normal landing zone is within the first 3,000ft (914 metres) of a runway, aviation experts said. If the aircraft had travelled beyond that point, the crew should have aborted the landing and attempted another approach, said aviation safety expert Steve Arroyo.

Mary Schiavo, a pilot and former inspector general of the US Department of Transportation, said videos posted online appeared to show the aircraft floating above the runway for an extended period without lowering its nose enough to bring the main landing gear down.

There was no rain at the time of the crash, but dark storm clouds were visible and strong winds had been reported. Schiavo said a tailwind could have contributed to the aircraft travelling further along the runway before landing.

"A tail wind would certainly add to your troubles if you've already given up a good chunk of the runway by not touching down and landing right away," Schiavo said.

Another issue likely to come under scrutiny is the absence of an arresting system at Miami airport. The Federal Aviation Administration says such systems have been installed at more than 120 airports across the US to help stop aircraft that overrun runways.

The systems use beds of lightweight, crushable material positioned at the end of runways. The FAA has credited them with helping save at least 497 lives in runway-overrun incidents.

The crash brought operations at the busy airport to a halt for much of Sunday afternoon. About 200 emergency personnel responded to the scene, where firefighters found the aircraft engulfed in heavy flames and smoke from a complex engine-compartment fire.

Airport firefighting crews used foam to extinguish the blaze, while emergency workers continued to deal with a fuel leak several hours later.

The Prime Air aircraft was operated by 21 Air, a cargo carrier based in North Carolina. The Boeing 767 was 32 years old and had originally been built as a passenger aircraft. It flew for several airlines for more than two decades before being converted into a cargo plane in 2015, according to the flight-tracking service Flightradar24.

Schiavo said investigators were also likely to examine the aircraft’s maintenance history, particularly given its previous foreign ownership, which included a Russian company.

The crash also caused widespread disruption to air travel. By late Sunday, about 160 flights had been cancelled and nearly 325 delayed, according to FlightAware. Officials at Orlando International Airport, more than 200 miles (320km) north of Miami, said some flights had been diverted there.

Amazon said it would cooperate with the investigation.

"We're heartbroken to learn that five people lost their lives in today's incident at Miami International Airport," the company said. "Our deepest sympathies go out to the families, loved ones, and all those affected by this devastating loss."

The crash comes a year after a UPS cargo aircraft crashed while accelerating down the runway at Louisville's Muhammad Ali International Airport after losing an engine. All three pilots and 12 people on the ground were killed, while 23 others were injured.
 

(Inputs From AP)