Investigators have retrieved the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder from an Amazon-contracted cargo jet that ran off a runway in Miami, ploughed into two vehicles and left five people dead, officials said.
National Transportation Safety Board chair Jennifer Homendy said the crash on Sunday unfolded on and beyond airport grounds, beginning when the aircraft overran the runway and struck a cleaning-services van carrying seven people.
From there, she said, the jet tore through a perimeter fence and hit an SUV travelling on a public road before smashing through a second fence line that separates an area where robo-taxis were parked.
Ms Homendy declined to discuss the condition of the plane’s two pilots, but stressed that the fatalities were confined to the occupants of the two vehicles that were hit.
“We do want to interview the crew,” she said, adding “as we speak, recovery operations continue”.
Calling the aftermath “devastating” at Florida’s busiest airport, Ms Homendy said the investigation is advancing even as emergency teams continue searching the site and recovering the remains of some victims — an effort that contributed to delays for hundreds of flights.
“We were able to recover the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder”, she said, noting both devices were being sent to the NTSB for analysis.
Ms Homendy said investigators would not rush access to the aircraft or evidence while recovery work remains under way.
“The investigation and access to the aircraft as well as evidence can wait while the recovery operation goes forward,” she said.
“That is most important, reuniting families with their loved ones,” she added.
According to Ms Homendy, the aircraft was a Boeing 767 built in 1994 and operated by 21 Air LLC, a Miami-based company flying under contract for Amazon.
It was making its third flight of the day and had been arriving from San Juan, Puerto Rico, when it failed to stop on the runway.
“In total, it was about 1,300 feet (400 meters) past the paved surface” before coming to a stop, she said, adding she walked the entire distance the aircraft travelled beyond the runway.
“There’s debris everywhere”, Ms Homendy said, describing spilled fuel and fuel still inside the aircraft that must be removed.
“The Econoline van is torn apart,” she said, referring to the first vehicle struck.
“It certainly must have been devastating,” she added.
