One of the pilots of the Amazon cargo plane that overshot a runway at Miami International Airport warned they were going too fast for landing, the National Transportation Safety Board has said.
As part of its investigation into the crash that killed five people and injured five more on Sunday afternoon, the NTSB released a summary of the cockpit voice recordings in the moments leading up to the fatal collision.
One minute and 42 seconds before the end of the recording, one of the pilots “cautioned they were too fast,” the NTSB said Wednesday.
The pilot “made additional comments regarding the aircraft’s excessive speed throughout the remainder of the recording,” the agency said, noting that there was “not a consistent verbal response” from the other pilot about the speed.
Five people inside a van owned by a company that cleaned planes for the airport were killed when the Boeing 767, operated by cargo carrier 21 Air, crashed into it.
Those killed were identified as Rolando Aleman Leon, 55; Yoel Rodriguez Naranjo, 53; Julio C. Pineda, 75; Carlos Acosta Fajardo, 53; and Javierkys Reyes Quevedo, 47.
The plane, which was carrying mostly contact lenses, was coming from San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Fifteen seconds before the cockpit voice recording ended, one of the pilots called for a go-around, which is when a pilot aborts a landing in the moments before the plane touches down and then circles for another attempt.
But seconds later, sounds similar to that of a plane veering off the runway were heard.
The plane overran the runway by about 1,300 feet, crashing into the van and then hitting an SUV before catching fire.
Of the five people injured, two remained in critical condition Wednesday, according to CBS News Miami. Those two were also workers of the cleaning company identified as Ridoel Averhoff Diaz, 32, and Roosevelt Sebastian Perdomo Torres, 36.
NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy talked about the pilots’ experience at a press conference Tuesday, saying that the 55-year-old captain had 7,145 flight hours and the 37-year-old first officer had 2,655.
Both pilots were interviewed by investigators on Wednesday.
