Amazon cargo plane overshoots Miami runway, killing five people on ground

US safety investigators have sent the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder from Sunday's Amazon cargo plane crash in Miami to Washington for analysis, the National Transportation Safety Board said.

NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy confirmed the two devices were being transported to the agency's headquarters for evaluation. The recovery marks a key early step in determining what caused the 32-year-old Boeing 767 to overshoot the runway by approximately 396 metres before striking two vehicles on the ground.

Five killed, two runways remain shut

The crash killed five people on the ground, while the pilot and co-pilot aboard the aircraft survived. The plane, operated by Miami-based 21 Air LLC, collided with an Econoline van carrying seven members of an airline cleaning crew on airport grounds and a Toyota SUV traveling on a road outside the perimeter fence.

Three people were critically injured, officials said. Homendy said the two pilots had not yet been interviewed.

Investigation focuses on landing decision

A team of 32 NTSB investigators is working at Miami International Airport, where crews continue to remove jet fuel from the crash site, keeping two of the airport's four runways closed. Homendy told reporters the agency is still in the evidence-gathering phase and stressed that a probable cause would not be determined until the investigation concludes.

Investigators will examine where the aircraft initially made contact with the ground and why the flight crew did not abort the landing attempt.

The airport briefly halted all operations immediately following the crash but resumed flights by Sunday evening. The Boeing 767-33A had been in service for more than three decades before the accident.

Source: South China Morning Post