The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) plans to release a transcript of the cockpit voice recorder from an Amazon Air cargo flight that overran a runway at Miami International Airport on Sunday. The incident resulted in five fatalities and injured five others.
During a press briefing on Tuesday evening, NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy confirmed that investigators have recovered both the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder. She described the audio recording as being two hours long with high-quality sound, while the flight data recorder contains 55 hours of data.
NTSB investigator Chihoon Shin revealed that initial analysis of the data showed the aircraft was on final approach. Shortly before the recording concluded, the throttles were advanced, consistent with a “go-around thrust” maneuver. However, braking was reapplied a few seconds later and continued until the end of the recording. Notably, there was no evidence that speed brakes or thrust reversers were deployed during the event.
Homendy stated that the readout of the voice recorder is expected to be made public on Wednesday, following interviews with the two pilots. Both pilots were treated at a hospital and have since been released.
The cargo plane, identified as Amazon Air Flight 7598, had arrived from Puerto Rico carrying approximately 32,000 pounds of mostly contact lenses. Upon overshooting the runway, the aircraft struck a Ford Econoline van belonging to an aircraft cleaning company. Seven individuals were inside the van at the time of the collision.
The Miami-Dade County Sheriff’s Office has identified the five victims as Rolando Aleman Leon, 55; Yoel Rodriguez Narajo, 53; Julio C. Pineda, 75; Carlos Acosta Fajardo, 53; and Javierkys Reyes Quevedo, 47.
Thanks for the clear summary. The go-around followed by immediate braking is definitely unusual behavior.
I wonder if weather played a part in the overrun. Miami can get tricky on approach sometimes.
Five lives lost over contact lenses cargo is heartbreaking. The pilots are lucky to survive though.
No thrust reversers deployed? That seems like a critical detail for the final report. Hope they find out why.
Terrible tragedy. My heart goes out to the cleaning crew who were just doing their jobs nearby.