By New York Post (U.S.) | Created at 2026-09-09 00:29:58 | Updated at 2026-09-09 01:54:39
1 hour ago
Moments after an Amazon cargo jet overshot a Miami runway and careened into multiple vehicles — killing five people and injuring five others on Sunday — one of the pilots reportedly exclaimed his career was over while visibly distressed outside the fiery wreck.
The two pilots, identified Tuesday as Felipe Silva Molina, 37, and Joseph Carroll, 55, escaped the crash with minor injuries while five people across two vehicles that were struck by the jet died, according to NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy and CBS.
One of the pilots borrowed a Miami International Airport employee’s phone to call his wife and let her know he was OK.
“He was shaking and a little injured in his forehead and his hand,” Abraham Altamar, who was working at a nearby building at the airport when he witnessed the crash, told CBS about the pilot.
Workers investigate a damaged Amazon cargo plane on Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026, at the Miami International Airport in Miami. The aircraft overshot a runway two days earlier. AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell“I was like, ‘Hey, you want me to call 911?’ He’s like, ‘No, we already called them.'”
Altamar gave the pilot his phone to contact his wife, to whom he said that he was unhurt.
“Just tell my mom that I was in the accident, but I’m already out of the plane, that I’m good,” the pilot said on the phone, according to the airport staffer.
Despite his composure, the pilot was visibly upset and reportedly told his wife, “My career is over,” Altamar said.
Altamar said that the crash was “surreal” and “scary” to witness.
It’s not immediately clear which pilot — Carroll or Silva Molina — he was assisting.
Miami Dade Fire Rescue officials inspect a damaged vehicle on Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026, in Miami. The inspection comes two days after an Amazon cargo plane overshot a runway at Miami International Airport. AP Photo/Rebecca BlackwellAccording to their LinkedIn profiles, Carroll serves as a captain with 21 Air, while Silva Molina is a first officer.
Federal investigators probing the fatal Amazon cargo jet crash are focusing on whether the plane landed too late to stop safely on the runway.
Homendy called the carnage that tore open a van carrying seven people “utter devastation.”
“I would describe it in one word as devastating,” she told reporters at a press conference, “utter devastation.”
The collision happened just before 2 p.m. Sunday, when Prime Air flight 7598 — a Boeing 767 operated by 21 Air — was landing in Miami from Puerto Rico, and careened off the runway before plowing into “multiple vehicles” and bursting into flames, officials said.
Footage from the terrifying crash showed the huge jet lurched on its side as fires raged and huge plumes of black smoke filled the sky, while passersby looked on in horror.
