One pilot flagged excessive speed before Miami cargo crash, NTSB says

• One pilot repeatedly warned about excessive speed before the Amazon Prime Air cargo plane crashed in Miami, with warnings ignored and inconsistent responses from the other pilot.
• The Boeing 767 overran the runway by about 396m, crashing into two vehicles and killing five people, with no use of speed brakes or thrust reversers recorded.
• The NTSB investigation revealed the captain had 7,145 flight hours and the first officer 2,655 hours; the crash happened during the plane's third flight of the day from San Juan to Miami.

WASHINGTON – One pilot of the Amazon Prime Air cargo plane that crashed in Miami on Sept 6 repeatedly commented to the other about excessive speed during the last one minute and 42 seconds of the cockpit voice recording, the National Transportation Safety Board said.

There was not a consistent verbal response to the pilot’s comments about speed, the NTSB said in an investigative update released on Sept 9 that did not disclose which pilot made the remarks.

“Too low terrain”, was also annunciated several times on the Boeing 767 plane before it touched down and overshot the runway in an accident that killed five people and injured five others, the board said in its update.

The 32-year-old plane operated by Miami-based 21 Air overran the runway by some 396m and crashed into two vehicles on the ground.

Fifteen seconds before the end of the recording, one of the pilots called for aborting the landing and the engine throttles were increased to a value consistent with go-around thrust, the NTSB said.

But four seconds later, the throttles were reduced to idle power and there were then sounds similar to the plane departing the runway’s paved surface, it said.

The NTSB said on Sept 8 there was no indication in the recorded data that speed brakes or thrust reversers were deployed to help slow the plane.

The board’s investigators spent much of Sept 9 interviewing the captain and first officer before releasing details from the cockpit voice recorder.

The Amazon cargo plane was on its third flight of the day, coming from San Juan, Puerto Rico. It had flown from Cincinnati to Miami and from Miami to San Juan earlier on Sept 6 before the crash at 1.53pm eastern daylight time (1.53am Singapore time on Sept 7).

The captain, 55, received his type rating for the 767 in May and has 7,145 hours of flight time, while the first officer, 37, received his type rating on the 767 in April 2025 and has 2,655 flying hours, the NTSB said on Sept 8. REUTERS