Getty ImagesA pilot onboard an Amazon cargo plane that crashed in Miami, Florida, on Sunday noted it was going too fast before it overshot a runway, crashed into other vehicles and burst into flames, new flight data shows.
The investigation update from the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said one pilot warned the other in the cockpit multiple times about “the aircraft’s excessive speed” but noted “there was but not a consistent verbal response”, even as an altitude alarm sounded.
The Boeing 767-300’s landing speed was 158 knots (292km/h), which experts have noted was on the high end.
The NTSB is leading the investigation into the crash that killed five people and injured five more.
The flight data released by NTSB included the plane’s speed, altitude, and other details like flap deployment as it approached the runway. The update also included the summary of conversation between the two pilots.
The summary noted the pilot’s cautions about speed occurred “throughout the remainder of the recording” as did the inconsistent verbal response.
The update said there was an electronic “sink rate sink rate” callout during the final minutes – an automated safety warning about the speed of descent.
There was also an electronic “too low terrain” callout, another automated verbal warning that the plane was flying too close to the ground without being properly prepared for landing.
Aviation attorney Pablo Rojas told CBS News, the BBC’s US partner, that it was difficult to know without the actual recording what the NTSB was referring to when it noted the inconsistent verbal response.
“But, it really confirms that this was, in a way, a doomed approach,” he said.
Rojas noted that flap deployment data included in NTSB’s update also could be an area of concern. The flaps, located on the back of the wings, are “part of what helps the plane kind of slow down and gently approach a landing”, he said.
“The flap deployment here happened much later in the accident sequence,” Rojas said. “That’s maybe because the pilots were responding to the fact that they were going too fast.”
After it overshot the runway, the plane – Amazon Prime Air Flight 7598 – struck equipment on the ground, hit a white Ford van, then continued onward through a perimeter fence.
It then collided with a Toyota Corolla, before coming to rest about 1,300ft (394m) beyond the runway.
The five who died were part of a plane-cleaning crew in the van. Miami authorities on Tuesday identified them as Rolando Aleman Leon, 55; Yoel Rodriguez Naranjo, 53; Julio C Pineda, 75; Carlos Acosta Fajardo, 53; and Javierkys Reyes Quevedo, 47.
