The pilot of the Amazon cargo plane that veered off a Miami runway, resulting in the deaths of five individuals, issued repeated warnings about excessive speed nearly two minutes before the crash. According to cockpit recordings released by investigators on Wednesday, the pilot eventually called for an abort of the landing at the last moment.
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) provided some insights from the recordings following interviews with both pilots. However, the complete transcript will not be disclosed immediately. It was noted that the second pilot did not consistently acknowledge the speed warnings.
The Amazon aircraft approached the runway at a high speed on Sunday afternoon, overshooting by approximately 400 meters, colliding with a van carrying workers from a plane-cleaning company. Subsequently, it struck a compact SUV as it skidded across a public road before igniting.
The victims of the crash were all occupants of the van. Among the injured were five individuals, two of whom were in critical condition as of Tuesday. Fortunately, the two pilots survived the incident.
Former FAA official Mike O’Donnell highlighted that when the pilot initially alerted about the speeding plane, various actions could have been taken to decelerate, such as deploying spoilers, reducing throttle, or extending the landing gear. Alternatively, the pilots could have opted to abort the landing and make another attempt.
O’Donnell emphasized, “There was sufficient time to decelerate, ample opportunity to consider executing a go-around maneuver at two minutes before landing.”
