Daijiworld Media Network - Miami
Miami, Sep 7: At least five people were killed and five others injured after an Amazon cargo plane overran a runway at Miami International Airport on Sunday afternoon, striking vehicles on a nearby road and bursting into flames, authorities said.
The aircraft, a Boeing 767 operated by North Carolina-based cargo carrier 21 Air for Amazon's Prime Air service, overran the runway at around 2 pm after arriving from San Juan, Puerto Rico. It ploughed across a road used by warehouse workers and businesses surrounding the airport before coming to rest near two semi-trucks.
Five people were killed in the crash, while three others suffered critical injuries and two were hospitalised with less serious injuries, Miami-Dade County officials said. It was not immediately clear whether the pilots survived or whether all those killed were travelling in vehicles when the aircraft struck them.
Miami-Dade Rescue Fire Chief Ray Jadallah said the pilot and copilot were trapped in the cockpit following the crash, while several people were trapped inside vehicles. Rescue crews also had to extricate a person who was trapped underneath a vehicle.
The crash sent thick black smoke into the sky and brought operations at the busy airport to a halt for much of Sunday afternoon. Around 200 emergency personnel responded to the incident and found the aircraft engulfed in heavy flames and smoke from a complex engine-compartment fire.
Firefighters used foam from specialised airport firefighting units to extinguish the flames. Emergency crews continued dealing with a fuel leak from the aircraft several hours after the crash.
Images from the scene showed the Prime Air aircraft resting on its belly beside a roadway. Despite the extensive fire damage, the aircraft appeared to remain largely intact.
The cause of the crash had not been determined. It was also unclear whether weather conditions contributed to the accident. Thunderstorms and wind gusts of up to 48 kmph were recorded in the area around the time of the crash, according to the US National Weather Service.
The 32-year-old Boeing 767 was originally built as a passenger aircraft and operated for several airlines for more than two decades before being converted into a cargo plane in 2015, according to flight-tracking website Flightradar24.
The accident caused widespread disruption at Miami International Airport. More than 160 flights had been cancelled and nearly 325 delayed by late Sunday, according to FlightAware. Officials at Orlando International Airport, located more than 320 km north of Miami, said some flights had been diverted there.
The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said it was sending a team to Miami to investigate the crash, with the investigation being led by Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy.
Amazon said it would cooperate fully with the investigation and expressed condolences to the victims' families.
"We're heartbroken to learn that five people lost their lives in today's incident at Miami International Airport," the company said. "Our deepest sympathies go out to the families, loved ones, and all those affected by this devastating loss."
The crash has also drawn attention to questions surrounding runway overruns and the procedures followed during the aircraft's landing.
Aviation safety expert Steve Arroyo, a retired longtime United Airlines pilot, said a Boeing 767 cargo aircraft would normally be flown by a pilot and copilot on domestic flights. A third pilot would generally be added for an international flight, while a long-haul international operation could require a fourth pilot.
Arroyo said investigators would need to determine whether the aircraft touched down within the designated touchdown zone of the runway. If it landed beyond that area, he questioned why the crew did not abort the landing and attempt another approach.
"Did the aircraft land within the required touchdown zone? If it did, what happened?" he asked.
Mary Schiavo, a pilot and former inspector general of the US Transportation Department, said footage of the landing appeared to show the aircraft remaining airborne above the runway for an extended period without sufficiently lowering the nose to bring the main landing gear onto the runway.
She said the aircraft appeared to have continued floating over the runway, using up valuable stopping distance before touching down.
Schiavo also pointed out that Miami International Airport does not have an engineered materials arresting system (EMAS), designed to help stop aircraft that overrun the end of a runway.
The US Federal Aviation Administration has said such arresting systems have been installed at more than 120 airports across the country. The systems use lightweight, crushable material designed to slow and stop aircraft that run beyond the runway, and the FAA has credited them with helping save at least 497 lives in runway-overrun incidents.
The Miami crash comes less than a year after a UPS cargo plane crashed after losing an engine while accelerating down the runway at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport. That accident killed all three pilots and 12 people on the ground, while 23 others were injured.
Investigators are expected to examine the aircraft's landing, runway conditions, weather, maintenance history, crew actions and the circumstances surrounding the runway overrun as they work to determine what caused the deadly crash.