Attorneys Blame Pilot Pairing for Fatal Amazon Cargo Jet Crash

Attorneys representing the victims of last month’s fatal Amazon cargo jet crash have accused the company and its operator, 21 Air, of negligence, citing potential pilot error as a key factor. The crash, which occurred when the Boeing 767 overshot the runway and struck multiple vehicles, killed five people, including 75-year-old Julio Pineda. Mark Lopez-Trigo and Joshua Padron, representing Pineda’s sons, claimed the accident was "100% preventable" and pointed to a breakdown in crew scheduling and safety protocols.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) revealed that the pilots had limited experience flying the Boeing 767. The captain had only 150 flight hours on the model out of 7,267 total hours, while the first officer had 800 hours on the 767 out of 2,800 total flight hours. The attorneys criticized the decision to pair the two pilots, who had never flown together before the crash. "One of the most blaring things has to do with the credentials of the pilots, the pairing of the pilots, and why they were chosen to be paired together for that flight," Lopez-Trigo said.

The NTSB also noted that the first officer repeatedly warned the captain about excessive speed, but the captain ignored the warnings and multiple automated alerts. "They didn’t just miss once, twice, or three times, they missed more than five or six times mandatory go-arounds where they could have prevented this," Padron said. The attorneys further alleged that the pilots failed to deploy key deceleration systems, including reverse thrusters, during landing.

Lopez-Trigo and Padron held 21 Air accountable for poor crew-pairing policies and inadequate training, while also criticizing Amazon for not vetting the airline’s safety standards before hiring it. "The company whose name was brandished all across this plane, the company who trusted 21 Air to fly this plane and deliver the goods, Amazon should have vetted this company prior to using them to deliver their goods," Lopez-Trigo said. Amazon and 21 Air have expressed their commitment to supporting the ongoing investigation and providing resources to the affected families.