Pilot warned of excessive speed seconds before fatal Amazon cargo crash at Miami

On the afternoon of September 6th, as an Amazon cargo plane descended toward Miami International Airport, one of the two pilots in the cockpit began repeating a warning that no one adequately answered: the aircraft was coming in too fast. In the final minute and forty-two seconds of the flight, according to federal investigators, this pilot voiced concern about the plane's excessive speed multiple times. The responses from the other pilot were inconsistent, the National Transportation Safety Board reported on September 9th. Meanwhile, the aircraft's terrain warning system was activating repeatedly, announcing "Too low, terrain" as the Boeing 767 continued its approach. Fifteen seconds before the recording ended, one pilot called for a go-around—an abort of the landing attempt—and the throttles were increased. But four seconds later, they were pulled back to idle. Moments after that, investigators heard sounds consistent with the aircraft leaving the paved runway surface.

The plane, a 32-year-old Boeing 767-33A operated by Miami-based carrier 21 Air on behalf of Amazon Prime Air, had arrived from San Juan, Puerto Rico, on its third flight of the day. It was carrying 32,222 pounds of cargo—mostly contact lenses—and was expected to land at a weight of 231,236 pounds. Just before 2 p.m., the aircraft overran the runway and traveled approximately 1,300 feet beyond the pavement before striking two vehicles. One was a 2012 Ford Econoline van owned by Professional Ocean Service Corp., a contract cleaning company for airlines, carrying seven employees inside airport property. The other was a Toyota Corolla Cross traveling on a public road outside the airport's perimeter fence. Five people were killed—all occupants of those two vehicles. Five others were injured, three of them critically. The victims were airport workers and a motorist who had no reason to expect danger.

The NTSB's preliminary findings have raised questions about the crew's handling of the landing and the aircraft's speed during approach. Investigators noted that there was no recorded indication that speed brakes or thrust reversers were deployed to help slow the plane. The captain, 55 years old, had received his Boeing 767 type rating in May and had logged 7,145 flight hours. The first officer, 37, had received his 767 type rating in April 2025 and had accumulated 2,655 flight hours. Neither pilot has been publicly identified by the NTSB.

On the same day the NTSB released its update, Yaraski Santiso Morejon, the widow of 53-year-old Yoel Rodriguez Naranjo—who was driving the van when the plane struck it—filed a wrongful death lawsuit in Miami-Dade County Circuit Court. The complaint names Amazon.com Inc., Amazon Air Cargo, 21 Air LLC, and both pilots as defendants. The suit alleges pilot error, inadequate training, and the deployment of an aging aircraft whose critical systems are now under investigation. According to the complaint, the pilots continued an unstable approach in tailwind conditions, landed too far down the runway, and failed to initiate a go-around before the aircraft overran. The lawsuit further alleges that Amazon and 21 Air failed to adequately train and supervise their pilots and allowed unsafe operational practices to continue.

Mike Morgan, an attorney with Morgan & Morgan representing the widow, stated that the evidence uncovered so far points to "a series of failures by the people flying the plane, the companies that put it in the air and the systems that were supposed to prevent this exact kind of tragedy." He characterized the crash not as a freak accident but as a foreseeable and preventable disaster caused by negligence. Both 21 Air and Amazon have said they are cooperating with investigators. The NTSB investigation is ongoing, with particular focus on whether the aircraft's braking, thrust reverser, and spoiler systems functioned properly during the landing attempt. The agency has not yet determined the cause of the crash.