NTSB says Amazon cargo 767 failed to deploy thrust reversers or speed brakes before Miami runway overrun
The NTSB reported that the Boeing 767 cargo plane operating for Amazon did not activate its thrust reversers or speed brakes during landing, and investigators are reviewing cockpit audio and pilot interviews to determine why the aircraft overran the runway.
The National Transportation Safety Board said the Boeing 767 cargo aircraft that crashed at Miami International Airport on Sunday did not engage its thrust reversers or speed brakes before it left the runway, killing five people and injuring five others.
NTSB investigator Chihoon Shin, who is leading the probe, said flight-data recorder information shows no indication that those systems were deployed, and cautioned that it is too early to draw conclusions about the cause. > "Right now, I’m not going to speculate about what should have been," Shin said, adding that a performance study is under way.
The recorder also captured a brief increase in throttle about 15 seconds before the end of the recording, consistent with a go-around thrust setting. A go-around is a maneuver in which pilots abort a landing and climb again to attempt another approach.
Investigators have obtained cockpit-voice recordings from the landing and final moments but have not released a transcript. They plan to interview the two pilots on Wednesday to learn how the controls were handled. > "What we need to do is talk to the crew to understand how they were manipulating the controls," Shin said.
The 32-year-old aircraft, originally a passenger jet before being converted to a freighter, was carrying more than 32,000 pounds of cargo, most of it contact lenses, on a return flight from San Juan, Puerto Rico. Operated by 21 Air for Amazon, the plane struck navigational aids, breached airport fences and collided with a cleaning-company van and a passenger vehicle outside the airport. All five occupants of the cleaning-company van were killed.
The pilots, Captain Joseph Carol, 55, and First Officer Jaime Felipe Silva Molina, 37, sustained minor injuries and have been released from the hospital. Preliminary analysis of video and photos suggests the aircraft landed long and at a higher than normal speed, creating an "unstable approach," according to aviation expert Shawn Pruchnicki. He noted that accidents typically result from a combination of factors rather than a single cause.
The final seconds of the flight-data recorder show the nose and right main gear touching down at 181 mph, the left main gear 11 seconds later at 154 mph, a brief throttle increase, then a reduction and re-application of brakes, with the aircraft’s ground speed ending at 74 mph.