At least 5 dead after Amazon cargo plane overruns runway at Miami airport

Around 2 p.m. Sunday, an Amazon Prime Air cargo plane, operated by North Carolina-based carrier 21 Air, overran the runway at Miami International Airport after arriving from San Juan, Puerto Rico. The aircraft plowed across a road used by warehouse workers and surrounding businesses, striking vehicles before being engulfed in heavy flames from a complex engine compartment fire. The crash killed at least five people, critically injured three, and hospitalized two others. Approximately 200 emergency personnel responded, extricating the pilot and copilot trapped in the cockpit, occupants in cars, and one person trapped under a vehicle. The incident halted flights at the busy travel hub for much of the afternoon, resulting in more than 160 canceled flights and nearly 325 delays by late Sunday.

The aircraft involved was a 32-year-old Boeing 767, originally built for passenger service before being converted into a cargo plane in 2015. While the exact cause has yet to be determined, thunderstorms and wind gusts up to 30 mph (48 kph) were recorded in the area at the time. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) announced it is sending an investigative team led by Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy to Miami. Amazon stated that it would cooperate with any investigation and expressed its deepest sympathies to the families, loved ones, and all those affected by the devastating loss.

Commenting on the incident, aviation safety expert Steve Arroyo, a retired United Airlines pilot, questioned whether the aircraft landed within the standard touchdown zone—typically the first 3,000 feet (914 meters) of a runway—and why it did not abort the landing and go around if it had missed that zone. Meanwhile, Mary Schiavo, a pilot and former inspector general of the Department of Transportation, noted that online video of the landing shows the plane floating above the runway for an extended period without flaring the nose upward to force the main landing gear onto the ground, losing critical stopping distance. She also pointed out that the Miami airport lacks the runway arresting systems installed at more than 120 other U.S. airports to safely stop overrunning planes.