Harrowing Audio Reveals Fire Crews Racing to Amazon Cargo Plane Crash in Miami that Left Five Dead and Five Injured
By MELISSA KOENIG, US REPORTER and ELISHA FIELDSTADT and ALYSSA GUZMAN, US NEWS REPORTER
First responders could be heard in distressing audio scrambling to extinguish a massive blaze after an Amazon cargo plane overshot a runway in Miami and collided into cars on a busy roadway, killing five people and leaving five others injured.
Flight 7598 was landing at Miami International Airport from San Juan, Puerto Rico when it overran the runway on Sunday at around 2pm and ‘struck multiple vehicles’ on Northwest 42nd Avenue, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue told the Daily Mail.
When firefighters arrived at the scene within just 30 seconds of receiving an emergency call, they found people trapped inside their vehicles, Fire Chief Raied Jadallah said at a news conference Sunday evening.
They also found the Boeing 767-3000 on fire, with heavy flames and smoke.
‘The plane is on fire. The plane is on fire,’ a firefighter could be heard in emergency radio dispatch obtained by the Miami Herald. ‘Put your game face on guys.’
Firefighters could also be heard on the emergency radio dispatch struggling to get hoses close enough to the plane to spray water to suppress the flames.
Making matters worse, the aircraft’s left engine was still running when firefighters battled the blaze, making it dangerous for them to enter the plane to check for patients inside.
The firefighters could be heard in the radio traffic saying the pilots onboard told them they could not turn the engine off because they would need to ‘energize’ the aircraft, leaving firefighters on the scene forced to flood the engine with water.
Five people were killed, and five others were left injured after an Amazon cargo plane crashed after overrunning the runway at the Miami International Airport on Sunday
The plane caught on fire as a result of the crash and killed five as it collided into vehicles
Images from the scene shared by NBC Miami show the plane, with Amazon branding, precariously close to a building. Smoke can be seen billowing from the aircraft.
At least five people were killed in the tragedy, while three others remain in critical condition at a local trauma center.
Two others were also transported to the hospital with unspecified injuries. Authorities have not yet identified the deceased nor the victims taken to the hospital.
Flight data from tracking site FlightRadar24 shows the cargo flight, operated by North Carolina-based 21 Air, was traveling at 129mph as it exited the ‘usable runway’ amid thunderstorms and gusting winds.
It then came to a rest near a parking lot that services an Amazon warehouse and other businesses, with photos from the scene showing the plane largely intact behind two semitrucks.
Meanwhile, Rohan Ellis, 34, a student pilot who was on the other side of the airport when the Prime Air plane crashed, described the vehicles on the road as ‘mangled’ to The New York Times.
One person was then left trapped underneath one of the struck vehicles and had to be extricated by specialized rescue personnel, fire crews told the Daily Mail as they continued to try to stop a fuel leak at the scene.
A spokesperson for the airport also told the Daily Mail that the plane ‘overran Miami International Airport’s diagonal runway and is disabled at the northwest end of the airport.’
The plane crashed into multiple vehicles after it overran the runway, leaving them ‘mangled’
The plane’s mangled wing could be seen leaning over cars at the scene
It remains unclear what may have caused the plane to overrun the runway.
But Robert A Clifford, founder of Clifford Law Offices in Chicago and a recognized leader in aviation law, said it ‘appears to be a classic tailwind landing mistake where a pilot mistakenly or over-confidently decides to land with a tailwind instead of a headwind.’
Doing so causes excessive touchdown speed and leaves an inadequate distance for the airplane’s braking and reverse thrust systems, he explained.
Clifford pointed to Miami’s own Automated Surface Observation System, which reports that the plane had tailwinds of 20 knots to 30 knots amid thunderous conditions.
Automatic Dependent Surveillance broadcast data also shows the plane touched down on Runway 30 at about 167 knots, or about 192mph, and went off the runway at over 120mph.
‘The highway vehicles stood no chance against the 300,000-pound Boeing 767-300 crashing into them at that speed,’ he noted.
Investigators will now examine the pilot’s decision to land with such high tailwinds, said Clifford, whose firm represents 15 victims and their families who were killed or injured when a UPS cargo jet crashed shortly after takeoff last year.
‘Certainly, the [National Transportation Safety Board] will examine that issue fully, along with the failure to declare an emergency,’ he said. ‘Also, to be examined, will be the performance of the engines to see if the reverse thrusters were properly deployed.’
Smoke billowed into the sky after the Prime Air plane crashed into a busy road
It remains unclear what caused the Prime Air plane to overrun the runway
A damaged vehicle is seen in pieces outside Miami International Airport following the crash
Pablo Rojas, an aviation attorney in the Miami-area, also told the Miami Herald there are a number of details about the crash that stand out to him.
‘You can see it stops in this parking lot area with the landing gear collapsed,’ he said. ‘The nose is kind of dipping down. We don’t know if that’s something that happened late in the accident sequence or early enough to have caused the accident sequence.
‘You can imagine the incident being caused by something else and then the landing gear collapsing, but certainly if there was an issue with the landing gear early in the accident sequence, that’s going to be the first clue for investigators,’ he continued, adding that the investigators will also look at the stormy weather conditions.
‘A landing at an international airport is complex,’ Rojas declared. ‘The pilot needs to be communicating with air traffic control. Air traffic control needs to be minding the weather and communicating that with the pilot.
‘We know we’ve had rain in Miami recently. Air traffic control needs to help the pilot understand the condition of the runway,’ he said.
‘Planes can land in nasty weather, but obviously if the runway is slick, that can sometimes cause air traffic control to pause or stop landings for a period of time.’
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) spokeswoman Hannah Walden further confirmed to The New York Times that runways at Miami International Airport are not equipped with an Engineered Materials Arresting System – crushable concrete designed to bring planes that overshoot the runway safely to a stop.
The FAA has long recommended that airports install the system, but it is not mandated and airports are able to use other FAA-approved methods of mitigating runway overruns instead.
Officials are seen investigating the runway incursion on Sunday evening
Following the crash, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy issued a full ground stop at the airport.
‘If you’re traveling through the area, please expect significant delays and potential cancellations,’ he posted on social media.
Miami International Airport has since reopened two of its four runways, but flights are still being impacted, with about 250 flights delayed at the airport late Sunday afternoon, according to FlightAware.
In a statement, Amazon said it was ‘heartbroken to learn that five people lost their lives in today’s incident at Miami International Airport.
‘Our deepest condolences go out to the families, loved ones and all those affected by this devastating loss.’
‘We’re working closely with local authorities and officials to learn more and will cooperate fully with any investigation.’
21 Air CEO Keith Winters also said the crash left his company ‘devastated’ and that it is cooperating with federal investigators.
‘Our deepest condolences are with the families and loved ones of those who lost their lives,’ he said in a statement.
‘Our immediate priorities are supporting those affected, assisting the authorities and ensuring that accurate information is communicated as it becomes available.’
Investigators from both the FAA and NTSB are now at the scene, with NTSB officials set to hold a news conference on the crash on Monday.
Original Source: https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-16109917/Amazon-plane-skids-runway-crashes-roadway-Miami-reports-say.html
