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

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.

The airport safety system that could have slowed the plane that left the runway in Miami, killing 5 people

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 C c aptain, 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.

Rebecca Blackwell/AP

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 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.

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 and Alexandra Skores contributed to this report.

来自坠毁的亚马逊航空波音 767-300 客机上的飞行数据记录器的新信息，详细描绘了周日飞机在迈阿密国际机场冲出跑道时驾驶舱内发生的事情，并引发了疑问。

这架由21 Air公司为亚马逊运营的23万磅重的货运飞机冲出跑道尽头，撞上一辆满载清洁工的货车、机场围栏、混凝土车辆护栏和一辆SUV，最终停下并起火。货车上的五人全部遇难。

美国国家运输安全委员会（NTSB）主席詹妮弗·霍门迪周二晚间表示，NTSB的调查人员将于周三对失事飞机的飞行员以及21航空公司的助理首席飞行员进行问询。NTSB预计还将公布根据驾驶舱语音记录器记录的飞行员在坠机前几分钟的对话内容。

机场安全系统本可以减缓那架在迈阿密冲出跑道、造成5人死亡的飞机的速度。

霍门迪在周二的新闻发布会上表示，调查人员从坠毁的喷气式飞机的尾部找到了驾驶舱语音记录器和飞行数据记录器（通常被称为“黑匣子”），并在华盛顿的实验室成功访问了这些数据。

黑匣子采集了超过400条数据流。美国国家运输安全委员会（NTSB）周二晚间公布的数据显示，飞机冲出跑道前发生了一系列不寻常的事件。

周二，负责此案的美国国家运输安全委员会 (NTSB) 调查员申志勋 (Chihoon Shin) 表示，在录音结束前 30 秒，飞机时速超过 180 英里时，两个起落架——右后轮和前轮——触地落在了跑道上。

第三组起落架——位于飞机左后方——直到九秒钟后才着地。飞机的设计以及飞行员的训练都是让后轮先着地。

录音结束前15秒——当时飞机速度接近140英里/小时——轮子上的刹车被松开，油门推至最大起飞功率。4秒后，油门回落至怠速，刹车重新踩下。

目前尚不清楚这一系列事件发生的原因。但这表明飞行员可能察觉到了问题，并试图再次起飞绕机场盘旋以进行另一次着陆尝试，但最终放弃了这一计划。

“我们需要做的就是与机组人员交谈，了解他们是如何操作控制装置的，以便更好地了解情况，”申周二表示。“对机组人员的采访将有助于我们填补一些空白……包括他们可能采取但未言明的行动。在分析此次油门事件的来龙去脉之前，我们需要全面了解这些信息。”

美国国家运输安全委员会（NTSB）指出，没有迹象表明事故发生时飞机使用了减速板或反推装置。这两种系统都旨在帮助飞机减速：减速板利用气动翼面，反推装置则通过改变发动机气流方向来帮助飞机减速。

驾驶舱语音记录器录制了超过两小时的高质量音频，但美国国家运输安全委员会（NTSB）表示，在公布通话内容之前，希望先听取飞行员的证词。迈阿密-戴德县警长办公室确认飞行员身份为约瑟夫·卡罗尔和海梅·费利佩·席尔瓦·莫利纳。

据美国国家运输安全委员会（NTSB）称，55岁的机长卡罗尔拥有超过7000小时的飞行时间，并于今年5月获得了波音767的驾驶资格。37岁的副驾驶席尔瓦·莫利纳拥有超过2500小时的飞行时间，并于2025年4月获得了波音767的驾驶资格。

周二，美国国家运输安全委员会（NTSB）的调查人员收集了证据，进行了测量，检查了发动机和驾驶舱，并回收了飞机坠毁地点附近停车场内的残骸。他们还找到了其中一辆被撞车辆的黑匣子。

美国国家运输安全委员会 (NTSB) 还走访了 21 航空公司位于迈阿密的运营中心，并采访了负责飞行前计划和跟踪航班从圣胡安飞往迈阿密的调度员。

据美国国家运输安全委员会 (NTSB) 报告，该飞机载有超过 32,000 磅的货物，其中大部分是隐形眼镜。

丽贝卡·布莱克威尔/美联社

调查人员还走访了空中交通管制塔台和终端雷达进近管制中心，该中心负责引导飞机进入机场。

调查人员计划于周三进入飞机的其他部分，并在地面收集更多证据。美国国家运输安全委员会（NTSB）表示，迈阿密国际机场的一条跑道仍然关闭，但另一条跑道已于周二晚间重新开放，恢复航班起降。

调查人员正集中精力收集事故现场的易腐烂证据。霍门迪表示，这段时间足以让他们确保所有细节都准确无误。

“事故发生后几小时甚至几天内我们收到的信息往往可能是错误的。我们需要一些时间来确保我们提供的信息是正确的，”她周二告诉记者。“很多事情同时发生，很多信息汇集在一起​​，我们需要进行核实……所以这确实需要时间。”

迈阿密-戴德县警长罗西·科尔德罗-斯图茨周二表示，在货车事故中丧生的五人均为 Professional Ocean Service Corp. 的员工，该公司是一家为航空公司提供合同清洁服务的公司。

受害者被确认为罗兰多·阿莱曼·莱昂 (Rolando Aleman Leon)，55 岁；尤尔·罗德里格斯·纳兰霍，53 岁；胡里奥·皮内达 (Julio C. Pineda)，75 岁；治安官办公室称，53 岁的卡洛斯·阿科斯塔·法哈多 (Carlos Acosta Fajardo) 和 47 岁的哈维尔基斯·雷耶斯·克韦多 (Javierkys Reyes Quevedo)。

专业海洋服务公司表示，他们对这场难以想象的悲剧感到“心碎”，并称其员工就像家人一样。

公司表示：“我们向每一位员工和每一个生活因此而彻底改变的家庭致以最深切的慰问和祈祷。我们与失去亲人的家庭一同悲痛，并祈祷受伤者早日康复。”

警长表示，周二上午，车祸中受伤的三人仍在住院治疗。

警长办公室称，面包车上的乘客，32岁的里多尔·阿韦霍夫·迪亚兹（Ridoel Averhoff Diaz）和另一辆车上的79岁的尤金尼奥·科雷多尔（Eugenio Corredor）情况危急。警长办公室还表示，面包车上的36岁乘客罗斯福·塞巴斯蒂安·佩尔多莫·托雷斯（Roosevelt Sebastian Perdomo Torres）情况稳定。

霍门迪说，面包车是在机场服务道路上被撞的，而SUV是在机场围栏外被飞机撞到的。

CNN 的 Andy Rose、Maria Aguilar Prieto、Julianna Bragg、Chris Boyette、Amanda Musa 和 Alexandra Skores 对本报道亦有贡献。