NTSB Investigation Reveals Cargo Jet Crew Attempted Aborted Landing Moments Before Deadly Miami Runway Overrun

Federal safety officials reported that the flight crew of a Boeing 767 cargo aircraft operating on behalf of Amazon Prime Air appeared to consider and initiate an aborted landing after touching down, shortly before overshooting the runway and crashing in Miami. The preliminary assessment, derived from recovered flight data recorder information, sheds critical light on the mechanical actions and flight control inputs during the final seconds of the fatal accident.

The tragedy occurred on Sunday afternoon when the 32-year-old widebody cargo jet, operated by Miami-based carrier 21 Air, failed to stop on the pavement at Miami International Airport. The aircraft barreled past the end of the designated runway by approximately 1,300 feet (396 meters) before striking two vehicles outside the runway boundaries. The violent collision resulted in five fatalities and left five other individuals injured.

National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy, who is leading the federal investigation on the ground in South Florida, briefed reporters on the initial findings extracted from the aircraft's flight data recorder. She announced that investigators scheduled formal interviews with both flight crew members for Wednesday, with plans to subsequently publicize preliminary details transcribed from the cockpit voice recorder.

According to precise telemetry logged by the flight data recorder, the initial contact with the runway occurred roughly 30 seconds prior to the end of the recording. At that exact moment, the aircraft's nose landing gear and right main landing gear made touchdown on the runway surface while traveling at a recorded speed of 158 knots, or approximately 181 miles per hour.

The telemetry logs further indicated that the aircraft's touchdown sequence was unevenly distributed across several seconds. The left main landing gear did not make contact with the tarmac until 19 seconds prior to the end of the recording, at which point the cargo plane was traveling at a reduced speed of 134 knots along the landing strip.

Moments after the full landing gear made contact with the runway, the recorded data documented an immediate and significant change in the flight crew’s control inputs. The airplane’s wheel brakes were fully released, and the engine throttles were advanced forward to power levels consistent with go-around thrust, signaling a late and urgent attempt by the pilots to abort the landing roll and return the aircraft into the air.

However, the attempt to execute a go-around maneuver was rapidly abandoned just seconds after it was initiated. Approximately 11 seconds before the flight data recording ceased, the engine throttles were abruptly pulled back to idle power, and the mechanical wheel brakes were once again fully reapplied in an effort to bring the speeding widebody jet to a halt.

By the time the data recorder captured its final readings, the aircraft had decelerated to a ground speed of 65 knots, but it had run out of available runway surface before it could be brought to a complete standstill. The momentum carried the heavy freighter through airport boundary areas where it collided with the two vehicles.

A critical revelation highlighted by NTSB investigators is the apparent absence of crucial aerodynamic and mechanical stopping aids during the landing rollout. The federal safety agency confirmed that the recorded data provided no evidence indicating that the aircraft's speed brakes or engine thrust reversers were ever deployed by the crew to assist in decelerating the heavy jet.

The fatal crash occurred at 1:53 p.m. EDT (1753 GMT) on Sunday as the aircraft was completing its third scheduled leg of the day. The Boeing 767 had begun its daily operational schedule with an initial morning flight from Cincinnati to Miami, followed by a round-trip connection from Miami to San Juan, Puerto Rico, from which it was returning when the accident occurred.

Investigators have also gathered professional and background histories for both pilots operating the cargo aircraft. The flight's 55-year-old captain had accumulated a total of 7,145 career flight hours across his aviation career and had officially earned his type rating to command the Boeing 767 earlier this year in May.

The first officer, aged 37, possessed 2,655 total flying hours on his record. According to the NTSB's documented background findings, the co-pilot had secured his type rating for the Boeing 767 twin-engine aircraft in April 2025, roughly one year prior to the captain's certification on the airframe.

In response to the catastrophic runway excursion, the NTSB deployed a specialized investigative team consisting of 32 personnel directly to Miami International Airport to inspect the airframe wreckage, collect physical evidence, and review air traffic and environmental conditions. The intensive investigative work on the airfield required the temporary closure of two active runways immediately following Sunday's crash.

By late Tuesday, federal investigators concluded sufficient on-site evaluations to allow airport authorities to reopen one of the two shuttered runways, permitting flight departures to resume toward the east. The NTSB continues its comprehensive review of the physical wreckage, procedural standards, and cockpit audio to determine why the landing roll went wrong and why deceleration mechanisms were not utilized.