National Transportation Safety Board Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy on Monday described the scene at Miami International Airport following Sunday's Amazon Air cargo plane crash as showing "utter devastation." The accident killed five people and injured five others.
Amazon Air Flight 7598, a Boeing 767-33 Alpha operated by 21 Air LLC, overran runway 30 at 1:53 p.m. ET and continued approximately 1,300 feet past the paved surface, colliding with two vehicles.
The plane first struck a white Ford Econoline van carrying seven people from Professional Ocean Service Corporation, an aircraft cleaning company, inside the airport perimeter. The aircraft then hit a Toyota Corolla Cross LE SUV outside the airport fence. Homendy noted the Econoline van was "torn apart," with debris from both vehicles and the aircraft scattered across the scene. The agency also documented tire marks extending through grass and significant fuel spillage requiring remediation.
All five victims were in the two vehicles struck by the plane. The cargo flight was arriving from Puerto Rico with two crew members onboard. It was the plane's third trip of the day, having flown from Cincinnati to Miami, then to San Juan, before returning to Miami.
A team of 32 NTSB personnel is on site documenting the scene and collecting evidence. The investigation will examine crew training, company procedures, air traffic control operations, pilot and controller transmissions, aircraft components and weather conditions.
Homendy emphasized that the NTSB's ultimate goal is accident prevention. "We can only work to prevent the next accident or tragedy if our recommendations at the end of an investigation are implemented," she said. The agency will not determine the probable cause while at the scene.
The NTSB expects to evaluate the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder, which were sent to the agency Monday evening.
