At Least 5 Dead After Amazon Prime Air Plane Overshot Runway in Miami

A minimum of 5 individuals have been killed, and 5 extra injured, authorities mentioned, after an Amazon Prime Air Boeing 767 cargo aircraft overshot the runway at Miami Worldwide Airport on Sunday, placing a number of autos and erupting right into a blaze.

Movies from the scene confirmed a hearth and thick black smoke rising from the aircraft. Miami-Dade Hearth Rescue mentioned in a Sunday night assertion that greater than 60 of its models and about 200 personnel responded to the incident, arriving to search out an airplane with “heavy flames and smoke displaying.”

At a information convention Sunday afternoon, Miami-Dade Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz mentioned the engine was shut down, the fireplace had been contained, and there was no ongoing menace to the general public. The Nationwide Transportation Security Board and the Federal Aviation Administration are investigating.

“It is a fast-moving state of affairs, and we’re nonetheless gathering particulars,” Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel mentioned in an X put up on Sunday. “We’re working carefully with native authorities and officers to know precisely what occurred.”

NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy mentioned throughout a Monday press convention mentioned the aircraft struck two autos: a Ford Econoline van owned by an airline contract cleansing firm with seven individuals inside, and a Toyota Corolla Cross driving down a close-by highway off the airport.

The 5 individuals who died have been contained in the cleansing van, Cordero-Stutz mentioned on Tuesday.

Of the 5 individuals who have been injured, three have been taken to a trauma heart, Miami-Dade Hearth Rescue mentioned. The opposite two have been taken to space hospitals.

Homendy additionally mentioned there was a group of 32 investigators on-site, and that the NTSB has recovered the flight knowledge and cockpit voice recorders, also called black bins, which are literally coloured orange.

“There’s gas in every single place that must be remediated, however then they’re additionally eradicating gas from the plane, so we’ve got to permit that to happen,” Homendy mentioned. “And as we communicate, restoration operations proceed. The restoration of victims is most vital.”

In a subsequent Tuesday night presser, Homendy shared particulars of the plane’s pilots. The 55-year-old captain had over 7,000 hours of flying expertise and acquired his sort score for the Boeing 767 in Might, she mentioned. The primary officer, 37, had about 2,600 hours of flying expertise and acquired his sort score in April 2025.

On the presser, NTSB’s lead investigator for the crash, Chihoon Shin, talked concerning the final 30 seconds of the aircraft’s recording, main as much as the aircraft overshooting the runway.

Shin mentioned the brakes have been utilized as soon as the aircraft’s proper touchdown gear touched down; its left touched down seconds after. The brakes have been then launched about 15 seconds earlier than the recording ended, and Shin mentioned the throttles have been elevated to ranges “per go-around thrust.”

Then, 11 seconds earlier than the recording ended, the brakes have been utilized once more. On the finish of the recording, the aircraft was nonetheless touring at 65 knots, or about 74 miles per hour.

Homendy added that NTSB would launch a readout of the cockpit voice recorder on Wednesday.

What we all know concerning the aircraft and the crash up to now

The aircraft took off from Puerto Rico at midday and reached Miami round 2 p.m., based on knowledge from the aviation monitoring web site Flightradar24. The web site additionally confirmed the aircraft was touring at 112 knots because it exited the usable a part of the runway and the perimeter fence, in the end going about 1,300 toes previous the pavement into an area where Tesla robotaxis have been stationed. Climate knowledge reveals there have been thunderstorms and gusting winds on the time of the crash.

The aircraft concerned was a Boeing 767-300 freighter, registered as N1997A, and first delivered as a passenger jet in 1994 to the now-defunct Belgian airline Sobelair. It handed by way of a number of extra airways earlier than being transformed right into a freighter by a 3rd occasion — not Boeing — and re-entering service in 2016. Which means it had been operated and maintained by a number of corporations over three many years earlier than Sunday’s crash.

“Boeing extends our deepest condolences to the households and family members of those that misplaced their lives within the accident in Miami,” Boeing mentioned in a press release. “Our hearts exit to these injured and affected by this tragedy. Boeing is supporting the investigation led by the U.S Nationwide Transportation Security Board.”

Homendy mentioned a key piece of the investigation shall be whether or not an Engineered Materials Arresting System (EMAS), a crushable materials positioned on the ends of runways to assist cease overrun planes, would have helped on this crash.

Miami doesn’t have EMAS because its runways have FAA-standard runway security areas extending 1,000 toes past the runway ends. Airports that can’t meet the usual, typically due to close by roads, waterways, or different obstacles, can set up EMAS as a substitute.

FAA knowledge present that about 120 runway ends at roughly 70 airports within the US have EMAS put in, and that EMAS has stopped 26 planes carrying practically 500 individuals to this point.

The plane was left disabled on the northwest finish of the airport. The airport has since partially reopened, however as of Tuesday, two of its 4 runways stay closed. Passengers ought to count on delays of no less than 5 hours, based on the FAA.

Describing the scene, Homendy mentioned the crash left behind gas, skid marks, and particles, calling it “devastating.” Miami-Dade First Rescue mentioned on Sunday that firefighters had “encountered a posh engine compartment fireplace and used foam from specialised airport firefighting models to extinguish the flames.”

“The Crews additionally carried out search and rescue operations for the pilots and co-pilots contained in the cockpit whereas finding and assessing sufferers all through the scene,” the company added.

In accordance with Miami-Dade Hearth Rescue radio transmissions recorded on Broadcastify, first responders scrambled to realize a dependable water provide as they sought to manage the fireplace on the aircraft. A command dispatcher repeatedly asked first responders to enter the aircraft, based on the recordings.

“I want you to begin making entry along with your crew so we are able to shut down the engine,” the command dispatcher mentioned, based on the recordings. “I imagine the pilots are out of the plane.”

A primary responder mentioned within the recordings that one pilot was with him in a car parking zone. One other first responder mentioned that the pilot was speaking with firefighters on the scene to indicate them how one can shut down the engine. The hearth was largely extinguished by 2:08 p.m.

That is the second 767 cargo plane to crash in Amazon’s Prime Air community. In 2019, an Atlas Air freighter flying on behalf of Amazon crashed into Trinity Bay close to Houston, killing the three individuals on board. The NTSB mentioned the reason for that accident was in-flight lack of management because of pilot error.