Federal investigators have revealed that the pilots of the Amazon cargo plane that crashed in Miami on Saturday apparently had second thoughts about their landing - just seconds before the whole thing went spectacularly sideways.
On Tuesday evening, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) shared data from the flight data recorder, which was recovered from the wreckage on Monday. The data shows the crew initiated a 'go-around' - that's aviation-speak for 'abort the landing, let's try this again' - mere seconds before impact. Because nothing says 'good decision' like changing your mind at the last possible moment.
According to the NTSB, 30 seconds before the recording ended, the nose and right main landing gear touched down. Nineteen seconds before the end, the left main gear also touched down. Then, a few seconds later, the pilots released the brakes and throttled up to go-around thrust. Notably, there's no indication they deployed speed brakes or thrust reversers - which, in hindsight, might have been useful.
NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy announced that the pilots will be interviewed on Wednesday, and details from the cockpit voice recorder will be released after that. Because we're all dying to know what was said in the cockpit right before the plane decided to go sightseeing on a highway.
The crash killed five people on the ground, all employees of Professional Ocean Service Corporation, an aircraft cleaning company. They were in a Ford Econoline van that the Boeing 767 - operated by 21 Air LLC under contract for Amazon - plowed into after overshooting the runway at Miami International Airport. The victims were identified as Rolando Aleman Leon, 55; Yoel Rodriguez Narajo, 53; Julio C Pineda, 75; Carlos Acosta Fajardo, 53; and Javierkys Reyes Quevedo, 47. Two other men, aged 79 and 32, remain in critical condition. Both pilots, the only souls on board, were released from the hospital.
The company released a statement mourning the loss, saying, 'Our employees are far more than the people who work beside us each day, they are family, and they are deeply loved.' We'd say that's a sentiment the families of the victims are probably feeling right about now, though perhaps with more anger and less corporate polish.
The NTSB continues to comb through the 'utter devastation' at the crash site, as Homendy described it. The plane traveled about 1,300 feet beyond the runway, through a perimeter fence, and into oncoming traffic. Video shows the aircraft touching down far along the runway, leading to speculation that it was coming in too hot to stop safely - perhaps because it landed with a tailwind, which aviation attorney Robert Clifford calls 'a classic tailwind landing mistake.' Because when you're landing a 32-year-old plane in stormy weather, why not add a little wind-assisted speed to the mix?
Investigators are also looking into weather conditions, the plane's mechanical state (it was on its third flight of the day), and whether the absence of arresting devices at the end of the runway contributed to the severity. Homendy also noted they'll examine the relationship between Amazon and 21 Air, because corporate accountability is always a fun rabbit hole.
Amazon, for its part, says it will cooperate fully with the investigation. The airport is slowly returning to normal after three days of cancellations, because the show must go on, even when a cargo plane has turned a roadway into a debris field.
As for the pilots' decision to abort at the last second, one can only wonder: did they think they could just pull up and try again, like a video game? Unfortunately, physics had other plans. The NTSB will spend the next week recovering evidence and figuring out exactly what went wrong, but for the families of the five dead, no explanation will ever be enough.