NTSB: Amazon cargo jet hit Miami runway at 184 mph with speed brakes stowed before crash that killed 5

The Amazon Air cargo jet that ran off the end of a runway at Miami International Airport on Sept. 6, killing five ground workers, touched down more than a third of the way down the runway at roughly 184 mph, and neither its speed brakes nor its thrust reversers deployed, according to a preliminary report released Oct. 1 by the National Transportation Safety Board. The report also found that the air traffic controller who cleared the plane to land did not give the pilots wind information, as a Federal Aviation Administration order requires when a tailwind is present.

The 12-page report does not determine a cause. But it lays out, for the first time in detail, the final seconds of a crash that killed five employees of an airline cleaning contractor in a van on an airport perimeter road and left South Florida's busiest airport under a ground stop for much of that Sunday afternoon.

What happened on Sept. 6

The Boeing 767-300 freighter was operating as 21 Air Flight 7598 on behalf of Amazon Air, flying from San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Miami. 21 Air is based in Greensboro, North Carolina. The flight landed on Runway 30 at about 1:53 p.m. local time amid thunderstorms, with winds gusting between 17 and 26 knots, according to the NTSB.

Investigators said the jet crossed the runway threshold at about 204 mph and touched down about 3,750 feet past it on the 9,360-foot runway, at a ground speed of about 160 knots, or roughly 184 mph. It was still traveling around 130 mph when it reached the end of the pavement, ran onto the grass and stopped about 1,200 feet beyond the runway.

Along the way it struck a Ford Econoline van on the airport perimeter road that was carrying seven workers from Professional Ocean Service Corp., an airline cleaning contractor. Five of the workers were killed and two were seriously injured. The plane then went through a fence and hit a Toyota Corolla Cross SUV on Northwest 67th Avenue, seriously injuring its driver. A fire broke out on the right wing, and the right engine was heat damaged and partly separated, the NTSB said.

The two pilots suffered minor injuries. In all, five people died and five were hurt.

The final 30 seconds

Flight data recovered by the NTSB shows how little time the crew had once the airplane was on the ground. The sequence below is drawn from the recorder timeline released by investigators, counted in seconds before the recording ended.

The captain called for a go-around about 15 seconds after touchdown, when only about 415 feet of runway remained, according to the report. Through the landing and rollout, the speed brakes, the panels on top of the wings that create drag and help a jet shed speed, remained stowed, and the thrust reversers were never deployed. More than 10 electronic warnings were captured during the approach, including "sink rate" alerts, CBS News Miami reported.

Warnings in the cockpit

The cockpit voice recorder summary shows the first officer repeatedly flagged the jet's speed. The NTSB said the first officer made additional comments about the airplane's excessive speed throughout the rest of the recording. "There was not a consistent verbal response to the comments about speed," the report said.

The captain had 7,267 total flight hours and had been with 21 Air since April, and the first officer had about 2,800 hours and had joined the airline in February 2025, according to the report. It was the first time the two had flown together. Earlier the same day they had operated Flight 7521 from Miami to San Juan.

The aircraft was built in June 1994 and converted to a freighter in June 2016. It had logged 110,077 flight hours and 24,505 flight cycles, the NTSB said.

Controller did not give wind information

The tower cleared Flight 7598 to land at 1:49 p.m. but did not give the pilots wind information, the report said. An FAA air traffic control order requires controllers to state both wind direction and speed when authorizing use of a runway where a tailwind component exists. The NTSB did not say in the preliminary report whether the missing wind call contributed to the crash. A tailwind lengthens the distance an airplane needs to stop, and the jet's high touchdown speed and long landing left it with little runway to work with.

The report also noted that no crushable-concrete overrun system, the kind of arrester bed some airports install at runway ends to stop jets that run long, was installed at the end of Runway 30.

Impact on Miami International

The crash shut down Miami International for hours on a busy weekend afternoon. The FAA issued a ground stop that was rescinded at 5 p.m. as the airport partially reopened under a ground delay program. More than 160 flights were canceled and nearly 325 were delayed that day, and some flights were diverted to Orlando International Airport.

Amazon said Sept. 14 that it would pause its operations with 21 Air. Lawsuits followed quickly. Morgan & Morgan filed suit Sept. 9 against Amazon.com Inc. and 21 Air LLC on behalf of the family of one of the workers who died, alleging that the use of a 32-year-old aircraft, pilot error and insufficient training contributed to the crash. NBC 6 South Florida reported that multiple suits have since been filed by families of victims and by injured survivors. The allegations have not been tested in court.

In response to the preliminary report, 21 Air said it was reviewing the NTSB's findings and would take appropriate action to improve safety. The airline said it would "continue to work closely with the NTSB as a party to the investigation and will do so until its investigation is complete," CBS News Miami reported.

What's next

The NTSB's investigation continues, and the agency's final report, which will include a probable cause and any safety recommendations, is likely to take one to two years. Investigators are expected to examine the crew's approach and landing decisions, the airplane's systems, airline training and oversight, the missing wind advisory from the tower and the design of the runway end. The FAA and Miami-Dade County, which operates the airport, have not announced changes to Runway 30 tied to the preliminary findings.