Amazon Cargo Plane Crash Raises Questions About Pilot Error and Safety Protocols
A fatal Amazon cargo plane crash at Miami International Airport has raised questions about pilot error and safety protocols. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released a preliminary update on the investigation, which revealed that one of the pilots warned the other that the aircraft was going 'too fast' just two minutes before landing.
The Boeing 767 cargo plane, operated by Amazon Air, overran the runway and struck two vehicles, killing five people. According to the NTSB update, the plane's flight data and cockpit voice recorders showed that the pilots received automated warnings from the ground proximity warning system (GPWS) as they descended.
The GPWS warned 'sink rate' twice and 'too low terrain' five times, indicating that the plane was flying too fast and too low. Despite these warnings, the pilots did not follow standard procedures for a go-around. Instead, one of them released the brakes and moved the throttles to full takeoff power, but then returned them to idle just four seconds later.
The NTSB investigator-in-charge, Chihoon Shin, stated that crew accounts and interviews will help fill in the blanks about what happened during the final seconds of the flight. The investigation is ongoing, and it remains unclear why certain safety protocols were not followed.