Amazon plane’s black box reveals strange sequence of events just before cargo jet skidded off runway, killing 5

By Aaron Cooper, Pete Muntean, CNN

(CNN) — New information from the flight data recorder onboard the crashed Amazon Air Boeing 767-300 paints a detailed picture – and raises questions – about what happened in the cockpit as the plane careened off a runway at Miami International Airport on Sunday.

The 230,000-pound cargo jet, operated for Amazon by contractor 21 Air, hurtled past the end of the runway and slammed into a van full of cleaning workers, an airport fence, concrete vehicle barriers and an SUV before finally stopping and catching fire. Five people in the van were killed.

On Wednesday, investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board will interview the pilots of the crashed plane as well as 21 Air’s assistant chief pilot, NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy said Tuesday evening. The NTSB is also expected to share details of what pilots said in the moments leading up to the crash, according to the cockpit voice recorder.

Investigators recovered the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder – often called “the black boxes” – from the tail of the crashed jet and successfully accessed the data at their lab in Washington, Homendy said in a news conference Tuesday.

More than 400 streams of data were captured by the black boxes. The data released Tuesday night by the NTSB illustrates an unusual sequence of events leading up to the plane going off the runway.

Thirty seconds before the recording ended, as the plane was going more than 180 mph, two of the landing gears – the back right and nose wheels – touched down on the runway, Chihoon Shin, the NTSB investigator in charge, said Tuesday.

The third set of landing gear – on the back left of the plane – didn’t touch down until nine seconds later. Aircraft are designed – and pilots are trained – to touch down with their back wheels first.

Fifteen seconds before the recording ended – as the plane was traveling nearly 140 mph – the brakes on the wheels were released, and the throttles were moved to full take-off power. Four seconds later, the throttles were brought back to idle, and the brakes were reapplied.

It’s not clear why this sequence of events happened. But it suggests the pilots may have detected a problem and tried to take off again to circle the airport for another landing attempt before deciding against it.

“What we need to do is talk to the crew and get their account to understand how they’re manipulating the controls in order to get a better understanding of the situation,” Shin said Tuesday. “Crew interviews will help fill in some of the blanks for us … in terms of actions that they might have done but not verbalized. And that’s something that we need a complete understanding of before we’re about to analyze what happened with the throttles in this case.”

There were no indications that speed brakes or thrust reversers were deployed during the incident, the NTSB noted. Both systems are designed to help slow a plane: speed brakes by using aerodynamic surfaces and thrust reversers by diverting air from the engine.

More than two hours of quality audio were captured on the cockpit voice recorder, but the NTSB said it wants to hear from the pilots before releasing details of what was said. The Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office identified the pilots as Joseph Carol and Jaime Felipe Silva Molina.

Carol, the 55-year-old captain, had more than 7,000 hours of flying time and had been certified to pilot Boeing 767s since May, the NTSB said. Silva Molina, the 37-year-old first officer, had more than 2,500 hours of flying time and been certified in the 767 since April 2025.

On Tuesday, NTSB investigators collected evidence, took measurements, examined the engines and cockpit, and recovered debris found in a parking lot near where the plane stopped. A black box from one of the vehicles that was hit was also recovered.

The NTSB also visited 21 Air’s operations center in Miami and interviewed the flight’s dispatcher who performed pre-flight planning and tracked the flight on its way from San Juan to Miami.

The plane had more than 32,000 pounds of cargo, mostly contact lenses, the NTSB reported.

Investigators also visited the air traffic control tower and Terminal Radar Approach Control, which guides planes into the airport.

Investigators plan to enter other parts of the aircraft Wednesday and collect more evidence on the ground. One of the runways at Miami International Airport remains closed, but a different runway was able to reopen for departures on Tuesday evening, the NTSB said.

Investigators are focused on collecting perishable evidence on the scene of the crash. The length of time allows them to make sure they get everything right, Homendy said.

“Information that we receive within hours and days of an accident can often be wrong. And it takes us some time to make sure that information we’re providing is right,” she told reporters Tuesday. “A lot is going on, and a lot of information is coming together that we have to validate. … So it does take time to do that.”

The 5 victims were like family, company says

The five people killed in the van all worked for Professional Ocean Service Corp., a contract cleaning company for airlines, Miami-Dade Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz said Tuesday.

The victims 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 sheriff’s office said.

Rodriguez Naranjo’s widow, Yaraisi Santiso Morejon, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the plane’s pilots, Amazon, Inc. and 21 Air LLC, her attorneys announced Wednesday.

The lawsuit, filed in Miami-Dade County, alleges “multiple, concurrent failures contributed to the disaster” and that the crash was a “foreseeable and preventable disaster caused by negligence,” the Morgan & Morgan law firm said.

“Everyone who played a role in this horrific crash will be held accountable,” said John Morgan, the firm’s founder. CNN has reached out to Amazon and 21 Air for comment about the lawsuit.

Professional Ocean Service Corp. said it was “heartbroken by this unimaginable tragedy,” and that its employees were like family.

“Our hearts and prayers are with every employee and every family whose lives have been forever changed,” the company said. “We grieve with those who lost a loved one and pray for the healing and recovery of those who were injured.”

Three people injured in the crash remained hospitalized Tuesday morning, the sheriff said.

Ridoel Averhoff Diaz, 32, an occupant of the van, and Eugenio Corredor, 79, who was in the other vehicle, were in critical condition, the sheriff’s office said. Roosevelt Sebastian Perdomo Torres, 36, who was in the van, was in stable condition, the sheriff’s office said.

The van was struck on an airport service road, and the SUV was hit by the plane outside an airport fence, Homendy said.

CNN’s Andy Rose, Maria Aguilar Prieto, Julianna Bragg, Chris Boyette, Amanda Musa, Alexandra Skores and Ray Sanchez contributed to this report.

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