Plane’s flight data indicates pilots tried aborting landing right before crash

The pilots of the Amazon Prime plane that crashed at Miami International Airport Sunday may have been trying to go airborne as they struggled to regain control of the Boeing 767 jet before it overshot the runway and killed five people, federal investigators said.

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National Transportation Safety Board investigators reviewed the jet’s flight data recorder, which showed the plane was still traveling almost 140 mph 15 seconds before crashing.

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The pilots released the brakes and increased throttles “to values consistent with go-around thrust,” meaning the pilots were likely trying to abort the initial landing, take off and try again, Chihoon Shin, the NTSB’s chief investigator in charge, said at a news briefing Tuesday night.

This gels with what former big jet pilots told the Miami Herald after they watched videos circulating online of the plane coming in far from where it should have touched down to safely land and at speeds they say looked too fast.

“They were halfway down the runway at about 180 knots,” Thomas said, referring to a speed of about 207 mph. “That’s when it’s time to go around. You go around.”

NTSB investigators were expected to interview the captain and co-pilot Wednesday, said Jennifer Homendy, the agency’s chairperson.

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Shin said that the flight data recorder showed the plane still traveling at 158 knots 30 seconds before the crash. The nose landing gear and the landing gear on the right side of the plane touched down, but not left side, Shin said.

Right down to seven seconds before the recording ended, and when the plane likely crashed into two vehicles, it was still traveling at around 96 knots, or 110 mph, Shin said.

After the plane ran off the runway, it crashed into a Ford Eco Line van owned by Professional Ocean Service Corp., a cleaning company, and then a Toyota Corolla Cross SUV on a permiter street. Five of the seven people in the van were killed, and the driver of the Toyota, 79-year-old Eugenio Corredor, who was the sole occupant, remains in critical condition.

The Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office identified the people killed in the van as Rolando Aleman Leon, 55; Yoel Rodriguez Narajo, 53; Julio C. Pineda, 75; Carlos Acosta Fajardo, 53; and 47-year-old Javierk Reyes Quevedo.

The Ford’s two surviving passengers — Ridoel Averhoff Diaz, 32, and Roosevelt Sebastian Perdomo Torres, 36 — remain hospitalized, the sheriff’s office said.

The Amazon Prime plane was operated by a North Carolina-based air cargo company called 21 Air. The Miami Herald reported Tuesday that documents show former 21 Air pilots had previously expressed concerns with safety procedures at the company.

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Miami Herald staff writer Sofia Saric contributed to this report.