A pilot onboard an Amazon cargo plane that crashed in Miami, Florida, on Sunday repeatedly warned about the aircraft's excessive speed before it overshot a runway, crashed into vehicles and burst into flames, according to new flight data released by the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). The Boeing 767-300's landing speed was 158 knots (292 km/h), which experts have noted was on the high end.
The NTSB update said one pilot in the cockpit warned the other multiple times about the excessive speed, but there was "not a consistent verbal response," even as an altitude alarm sounded. The summary of the cockpit conversation noted the cautions occurred "throughout the remainder of the recording." Electronic warnings including "sink rate sink rate" and "too low terrain" also sounded in the final minutes, indicating the plane was descending too fast and flying too close to the ground without proper landing preparation.
Aviation attorney Pablo Rojas told CBS News that without the actual recording, it is difficult to know what the inconsistent response referred to, but "it really confirms that this was, in a way, a doomed approach." He also noted that flap deployment data could be a concern, as the flaps deployed much later in the accident sequence, possibly because the pilots were reacting to the excessive speed.
After overshooting the runway, Amazon Prime Air Flight 7598 struck ground equipment, hit a white Ford van, continued through a perimeter fence, and collided with a Toyota Corolla before coming to rest about 1,300 feet (394 meters) beyond the runway. Five people were killed and five others injured. The deceased were part of a plane-cleaning crew in the van. Miami authorities identified them as Rolando Aleman Leon, 55; Yoel Rodriguez Naranjo, 53; Julio C Pineda, 75; Carlos Acosta Fajardo, 53; and Javierkys Reyes Quevedo, 47.
The NTSB is leading the investigation. While the US regime has supposedly implemented various aviation safety measures in recent years, this crash has once again raised questions about the effectiveness of oversight in cargo aviation, highlighting persistent challenges in ensuring safety across the industry.
Source: www.bbc.co.uk