A Boeing 767 operated for Amazon Prime Air overran the runway at Miami International Airport on Sunday afternoon, crashed into vehicles on a road used by warehouse workers, and burst into flames — killing at least five people, critically injuring three, and hospitalising two others with less severe injuries. The National Transportation Safety Board has dispatched a team to Miami led by Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy, who is expected to give the agency’s first public briefing on the investigation Monday.
The aircraft arrived from San Juan, Puerto Rico, and touched down around 2pm Sunday before continuing off the end of the runway and across the adjacent road. Video of the landing posted online appears to show the plane remaining airborne well down the runway before making contact with the ground — a detail that aviation safety experts say will be central to the federal investigation.
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Chief Ray Jadallah said crews arrived to find heavy flames and thick black smoke from a complex engine compartment fire. Approximately 200 emergency personnel responded. The pilot and co-pilot were initially trapped in the cockpit, and occupants in some of the struck vehicles also had to be extricated. Specialised airport firefighting units used foam to suppress the fire, while crews continued dealing with a fuel leak on the plane hours after the crash. The aircraft came to rest on its belly beside a roadway near two semi-trucks, largely intact despite the fire damage.
It was not immediately clear whether the pilots were among those killed.
What Investigators Will Focus On
The key question for the NTSB will be precisely where on the runway the aircraft touched down and whether that point was beyond the standard touchdown zone — typically within the first 3,000 feet of the runway. If the plane landed beyond that zone, investigators will ask why the pilots did not abort the approach and circle back for another attempt, known as a go-around.
Aviation safety expert Steve Arroyo said that if the cargo jet was beyond the normal zone, going around would have been the standard required procedure. Former Transportation Department Inspector General Mary Schiavo, who is also a pilot, said video posted online shows the plane floating above the runway for an extended period without the pilots raising the nose upward to force the main landing gear onto the ground — a flaring technique standard in normal landings.
Weather conditions may have played a role. While it was not raining at the time of the crash, dark storm clouds were building and strong winds were reported. Schiavo said a tailwind would have compounded any late-landing problem. “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,” she said. The NTSB will examine the plane’s speed, braking, mechanical condition, maintenance records, and weather data alongside the touchdown point.
Schiavo also noted the plane’s history as a factor investigators would examine — the 32-year-old Boeing 767 was originally built as a passenger aircraft, flew for several airlines over more than two decades, was converted to cargo use in 2015, and had a history of foreign ownership including by a Russian company.
A Safety Gap at Miami International
One significant factor in the crash’s severity is that Miami International Airport is not equipped with engineered material arresting systems — beds of lightweight, crushable material installed at the end of runways to slow and stop overrunning aircraft. The FAA says such systems have been installed at more than 120 airports nationwide and have been credited with safely stopping at least 497 people whose aircraft overran runways. Miami’s lack of such a system meant there was no engineered barrier between the runway’s end and the road where the vehicles were struck.
The Scale of the Disruption
The crash halted operations at one of the busiest airports in the eastern United States for much of Sunday afternoon. More than 160 flights were cancelled and nearly 325 were delayed by late evening, according to flight tracking service FlightAware. Flights were diverted to Orlando International Airport, more than 200 miles north of Miami.
The flight had been operated by 21 Air, a North Carolina-based cargo carrier contracted by Amazon. Amazon said in a statement that it was “heartbroken” by the loss of five lives and would cooperate fully with any investigation.
Last year a UPS cargo plane crashed at Louisville’s Muhammad Ali International Airport after losing an engine during takeoff, killing all three crew members and 12 people on the ground. The Amazon crash in Miami is the latest in a troubling run of cargo aviation accidents in the United States and continues to focus regulatory attention on the age and maintenance standards of aircraft converted from passenger to freight use.
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