Amazon cargo jet increased thrust before runway overrun

Investigators are continuing work to determine what caused the crash of an Amazon cargo plane at Miami International Airport on Sept. 6. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

The Amazon.com Inc. cargo plane that crashed at Miami International Airport on Sept. 6 increased thrust just seconds before it overran the runway and careered into two vehicles, the National Transportation Safety Board said.

While the plane’s brakes were applied shortly after touchdown, the throttles were subsequently increased “to values consistent with go-around thrust,” Chihoon Shin, the NTSB investigator-in-charge of the accident, said at a briefing late Sept. 8. In aviation, a go-around is a recognized procedure to abandon a landing, regain altitude and reposition the aircraft for another landing attempt.

The briefing provided some fresh details into the crash, which killed five people on the ground, after the NTSB recovered the plane’s two black boxes. Those devices contain the data and cockpit audio from the flight and often provide clues for investigators after accidents.

The jet’s flight data show the plane’s brakes were later reapplied and the throttles idled, though there’s no indication that the aircraft’s speed brakes or thrust reversers were deployed after touchdown, the NTSB said. Those mechanisms are designed to slow planes down immediately after they land.

NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said her team will interview both pilots Sept. 9. She said investigators want to hear their accounts before releasing details of the cockpit voice recorder. The captain is 55 years old with 7,145 hours of flying experience, and the 37-year-old first officer has 2,655 hours, she said.

Prime Air Flight 7598, operated by subcontractor 21 Air, overran the airport’s diagonal runway after arriving from Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The Boeing Co. 767 continued roughly a quarter-mile beyond the paved runway surface, striking airport navigational equipment before plowing into two vehicles.

NTSB investigators examine the wreckage field Monday after a Boeing 767 cargo plane operating as 21 Air LLC Flight 7598 overran the end of Runway 30 while landing Sunday at Miami International Airport (MIA). pic.twitter.com/MV7vRu8kuC

— NTSB Newsroom (@NTSB_Newsroom) September 7, 2026

The jet struck a white Ford Econoline van after leaving the runway, leaving it torn apart. The van had been transporting a seven-person cleaning crew inside the airport perimeter. The aircraft then hit a small Toyota SUV traveling on a road just outside the airport fence. All five people killed and five others injured in the crash were in those two vehicles. 

Homendy said investigators spent most of Sept. 8 documenting the crash scene, collecting what she described as “perishable evidence,” such as tire mark measurements. They also inspected the plane’s engines and got inside the cockpit, she said. The plane’s cargo was mainly contact lenses, and there was nothing hazardous in the hold, she said. 

The NTSB earlier released photos of the jet’s so-called black boxes.

NTSB releases photos of flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder recovered from 21 Air LLC Flight 7598. pic.twitter.com/HpC9I2T5MR

— NTSB Newsroom (@NTSB_Newsroom) September 8, 2026

The flight was operated by 21 Air as a subcontractor for Amazon. The carrier also provides dedicated cargo service for DHL Express and is owned by Jim Crane, chairman of the Houston Astros, according to a 2021 filing with the Transportation Department.

Amazon’s in-house cargo airline has increasingly shifted toward larger aircraft capable of handling longer flights and bulk shipments, with the 767 model involved in the crash accounting for the largest portion of its fleet. Amazon Air also operates Airbus SE A330-300 freighters and smaller Boeing 737 aircraft for regional routes.

The incident was the second major fatal U.S. cargo-plane accident in less than a year, following the November 2025 crash of a UPS Inc. freighter shortly after takeoff from Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport. That accident killed all three crew members and 11 people on the ground. 

Cargo planes make up a relatively small share of commercial air traffic, though freighters are often older aircraft that previously flew in passenger service. In February 2019, a Boeing 767-300 operated by Atlas Air crashed near Houston after departing Miami, killing all three people on board.

Amazon ranks No. 1 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest logistics companies in North America, No. 15 on the TT Top 100 list of the largest private carriers and No. 1 on the TT Top 50 list of the largest global freight companies.