By The Epoch Times | Created at 2026-09-09 13:20:17 | Updated at 2026-09-09 13:59:38
47 minutes ago
Evidence recovered from the flight data recorder of an Amazon Prime Air cargo plane that crashed on Sept. 6 indicates the pilot may have considered aborting the landing shortly after it first touched down at Miami International Airport, investigators said on Tuesday.
Both the pilot and co-pilot survived the crash, which killed five people on the ground and injured five others. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators said on Monday that they recovered the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder, commonly called black boxes.
NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy told reporters on Sept. 8 that investigators would interview both pilots on Wednesday, before releasing details from the cockpit voice recorder.
During a press conference, the NTSB’s investigator-in-charge, Chihoon Shin, said that 30 seconds before the end of the flight data recording, the nose landing gear and right main landing gear touched down on the runway at a speed of 158 knots (181 mph), while 19 seconds before the end of the recording, the left main landing gear touched down at a speed of 134 knots.
A few seconds later, the brakes were released, and the throttles were increased to values consistent with go-around thrust. That may indicate a late attempt to abort the landing and get back in the air.
But 11 seconds before the end of the recording, throttles were reduced to idle power, and brakes were reapplied. The final ground speed was 65 knots at the end of the recording.
The NTSB said there was no indication in the recorded data that speed brakes or thrust reversers were deployed to help slow the plane.
Later, when a reporter asked whether there had been an attempt to abort the landing, Shin said the only information they had came from the black boxes.
“What we need to do is talk to the crew and get their account to understand how they’re manipulating the controls in order to get a better understanding of the situation,” Shin said.
“With the cockpit voice recorder, while we have that data, crew accounts and crew interviews will help fill in some of the blanks for us … in terms of actions that they might have done, but not verbalized.”
The Boeing 767, which was operated by Miami-based 21 Air, overran the runway by 1,300 feet before crashing into two vehicles in a parking lot. The 32-year-old Amazon cargo plane was on its third flight of the day, having flown in from San Juan, Puerto Rico, when the crash occurred at 1:53 p.m.
An Amazon Prime Air cargo plane that overran a runway at Miami International Airport in Miami on Sept. 6, 2026. Marco Bello/Reuters
No Hazardous Materials on Board
Homendy is leading a team of 32 investigators at Miami International Airport. She said the plane carried cargo weighing 32,222 pounds (14,615 kilos).
“There were no hazardous materials on board,” she said. “The cargo was mainly made up of contact lenses.”
Homendy said the 55-year-old pilot, who has not been named, received his type rating for the 767 in May and has 7,145 hours of flight time.
The first officer, 37, received his 767 type rating in April 2025 and has 2,655 flying hours.
Homendy said the NTSB had been able to release one of two runways closed since the accident to allow for departures from an easterly direction late on Sept. 8.
Reuters contributed to this report.
