Amazon Cargo Plane Overruns Runway, Crushes Vehicles Leaving 5 Dead

The U.S. Amazon cargo plane crash that left five people dead was found on the 7th (local time) to have touched down unusually late and overshot the end of a runway not equipped with an Engineered Materials Arresting System (EMAS), crashing into vehicles.

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) stated during a briefing that day that the cargo plane overran "Runway 30" at Miami International Airport in Florida the previous day and continued traveling for about 400 meters.

It collided with multiple vehicles and stopped just short of an area where Tesla robotaxis were parked.

The van it collided with first belonged to a company contracted with airlines for cleaning services, and out of the seven people inside, five died and two are in critical condition.

It then breached the airport's perimeter fence and collided with a passenger car traveling on a four-lane road.

An unusually late landing time was pointed out as a primary cause of the accident.

Citing aircraft tracking data, CNN reported that the plane flew flat without performing a maneuver to let the rear landing gear touch the ground first, touching down far past the normal point and traveling at 129 mph (209 km/h) even as it ran off the runway.

The plane approached the runway through clouds and thunderstorms, and one of the cited reasons is that the wind direction suddenly changed right before landing, subjecting the aircraft to a tailwind.

CNN reported that social media (SNS) footage showed the left rear landing gear bouncing off the runway even upon the late touchdown.

Crucially, Miami International Airport did not have an Engineered Materials Arresting System (EMAS) to prevent runway overruns.

The lack of EMAS—a braking bed where concrete pads crush upon impact with an aircraft to bring its wheels to a stop—led to the fatal casualties.

There were two pilots on board the Amazon cargo plane, and while they were rescued immediately after the accident, their current condition has not been precisely disclosed.

In the U.S., a plane and a fire truck collided at New York LaGuardia Airport last March, resulting in the deaths of two pilots.

In January of last year, a passenger airliner and a U.S. military helicopter collided near the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., killing 67 people, and in November of the same year, a UPS cargo plane crashed in Louisville, Kentucky, killing 15 people.

(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.