Amazon Cargo Jet Crash Kills Five at Miami Airport
Investigation update — October 21, 2026
The National Transportation Safety Board has released its preliminary report (DCA26MA352) on the September 6 runway overrun involving 21 Air Flight 7598, a Boeing 767 operating for Amazon at Miami International Airport. It confirms five fatalities on the ground, three serious injuries on the ground and minor injuries to the two crew members. The investigation remains open, and the NTSB has not determined probable cause.
The report describes warnings from the first officer about excessive approach speed and a late call for a go-around after touchdown. It also details wind information that air traffic control had not passed to this flight. The NTSB reported that recorded data showed no indication that speed brakes or thrust reversers were deployed before the recording ended. These are preliminary findings, not a final determination of responsibility.
By SyndicatedNews | SNN.BZ
MIAMI — Federal investigators are examining a runway overrun at Miami International Airport that killed five people and injured five others Sunday, September 6. The aircraft was Amazon Prime Air Flight 7598, operated for Amazon by cargo carrier 21 Air. The FAA identifies the aircraft as a Boeing 767-300 cargo jet arriving from Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The jet overran Runway 30 at about 2 p.m. and continued far beyond the paved surface.
The aircraft had two crew members aboard and was completing its third flight of the day, having flown Cincinnati-to-Miami, Miami-to-San Juan and then San Juan-to-Miami. NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said investigators traced a debris path extending approximately 1,300 feet beyond the paved runway. The Boeing first struck airport navigational equipment and then struck a white 2012 Ford E-150 Econoline van carrying seven employees of Professional Ocean Service Corp., an airline-cleaning contractor.
The aircraft continued through the airport perimeter fence and struck a Toyota Corolla Cross LE traveling on Northwest 67th Avenue outside airport property before finally coming to rest. Homendy said the van was severely damaged and debris from vehicles, the aircraft, airport equipment and fencing was scattered across the scene. Five people were killed and five others were hospitalized; three of the injured remained in critical condition Monday.
Authorities have not yet publicly identified the five people killed, the injured survivors, or the two pilots by name, according to the latest reporting available Monday evening. The names of those involved are omitted here pending official confirmation. Officials who can be identified include Jennifer Homendy, chair of the National Transportation Safety Board; Rosie Cordero-Stutz, Miami-Dade County sheriff; Ray Jadallah, chief of Miami-Dade Fire Rescue; and Greg Chin, spokesman for the Miami-Dade Aviation Department. More than 60 Miami-Dade Fire Rescue units reportedly responded as rescuers worked to reach people trapped in the aircraft and vehicles.
Investigators recovered the two flight recorders Monday: the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder. They are being sent to NTSB headquarters for analysis. Homendy said the agency already possesses some information concerning the aircraft’s speed but wants to verify those figures against the flight recorder before releasing them. Investigators will examine the touchdown point, speed, braking performance, wind and weather, mechanical condition of the aircraft, crew actions, company procedures and airport infrastructure before reaching conclusions about why the aircraft could not be stopped.
One important question is where Flight 7598 actually touched down. Video examined by aviation experts appears to show the 767 remaining airborne unusually far down the runway. Investigators will determine whether it landed beyond the normal touchdown zone and, if so, why the crew continued the landing rather than executing a go-around. Those questions should not yet be interpreted as proof of pilot error; the NTSB has specifically cautioned that it is gathering evidence and is not determining probable cause while investigators are still documenting the scene.
The aircraft itself was manufactured in 1994, making it approximately 32 years old, and had previously served as a passenger aircraft before conversion to cargo service. Published aviation reporting identifies the aircraft as N1997A. Its age alone does not establish anything about the cause of the accident, but Homendy said investigators will examine its maintenance and ownership history. The crash also raises questions about runway-overrun protection: Miami International does not have an Engineered Materials Arresting System at this runway, although former FAA airport-safety official Mike O’Donnell told the Associated Press that MIA appears to comply with federal requirements because it has the required 1,000-foot runway safety area.
At the time of the initial report, the investigation was in its early stages. The NTSB has 32 personnel at the scene and expects investigators to remain there for at least a week. Amazon said it was heartbroken by the deaths and pledged cooperation with investigators. Meanwhile, the accident produced widespread disruption at one of America’s busiest international airports, with two of MIA’s four runways still closed Monday and scores of additional cancellations following Sunday’s shutdown. Unanswered questions — exact touchdown point, speed, braking, weather, aircraft condition, cockpit decisions and the identities of the victims — should become clearer as recorder data, interviews, surveillance video and physical evidence are analyzed.
Photographs
SNN.BZ has not established reuse rights for photographs circulated by commercial agencies. The strongest photographs currently circulating are credited to AFP/Getty Images, Getty Images, Miami Herald/Tribune News Service, or individual photographers such as Milton Delgado. Those should not be assumed to be free merely because they appear online.
The accompanying reconstruction is an AI-generated illustration, not a photograph of the accident. The incident involved one cargo aircraft, not a collision between aircraft.
