NTSB releases first report into deadly Amazon plane crash at Miami airport

David Goodhue and Devoun Cetoute, Miami Herald on Oct 1, 2026

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MIAMI — Federal investigators released their first report into what when wrong when 21 Air Flight 7598 overshot the runway at Miami International Airport last month, killing five people in a work van and seriously injuring five others.

The 767-33A was carrying cargo on contract for Amazon Prime when it came high and fast over the Runway 30 on Sunday, Sept. 6, traveling about 140 mph for 15 seconds before it crashed into a van carrying an airport cleaning crew and a Toyota Corolla SUV.

While the right landing gear was on the ground, the pilots struggled to get the left wheels to grip the surface, and seven seconds before the crash, the 200,000-pound jet was still barreling down the runway at nearly 110 mph, according to the NTSB.

Flight-recorder data showed the pilots tried in the last seconds to lift off again to attempt to abort the landing and try again, but there was not enough runway left. There was no indication that speed brakes or thrust reversers were deployed, according to the flight recorder.

The Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office identified five people who died among the seven inside the passenger van that was hit by the Amazon Prime Boeing 767.

Rolando Aleman Leon, 55; Yoel Rodriguez Narajo, 53; Julio C. Pineda, 75; Carlos Acosta Fajardo, 53; and Javierk Reyes Quevedo, 47.

“It’s an incredibly tragic incident that has occurred,” Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz told reporters at her agency’s Doral headquarters. “One leaves their house to go to work, to visit family, to do what we normally do, without thinking that is even a possibility.”

History of safety complaints

Former pilots of 21 Air, the air-cargo company operating the Amazon Prime plane that fatal Sunday, had previously gone on record shining light on a host of safety complaints well before the crash.

Pilot Karl Seuring accused the North Carolina-based operator of not giving pilots enough time off between flights, violating take-off speed protocols and other risks that endangered the public and flight crews, according to March 2024 sworn statements in an ongoing Department of Labor dispute with his former employer.

Don Helmig, a retired airline and military pilot who flew for 21 Air, quit his job after he believed management ignored significant safety issues, a resignation email obtained by the Miami Herald read.

“After three months, everywhere I looked, there are issues,” Helmig wrote in a June 12, 2021, resignation email to 21 Air’s majority owner, Jim Crane, who also owns the Houston Astros baseball team. “In my opinion, what they wished me to do is say nothing, but that is not how Safety is supposed to operate, to ‘pay lip service to [Safety Management Systems]’ and do nothing.”

Amazon suspended ties with 21 Air, the operator of the fatal Flight 7598, following the fatal crash at MIA.

“After the tragic incident last weekend, we’ve spent time supporting the investigation and reviewing some of the surrounding circumstances,” Kelly Nantel, an Amazon spokesperson, said in a Sept. 13 statement.

Mountain of lawsuits

In the wake of the fatal crash, several family members of the deceased and a survivor from the wreckage have all filed separate lawsuits against numerous companies they say are liable, including 21 Air and Amazon, as well as the pilots.

The children of Aleman, Duviel and Aylen are suing multiple companies, including 21 Air, Amazon and the pilots, for their involvement in the death of their father. Duviel was supposed to be in the van with his father but because of appendicitis was not, inadvertently saving his life.

Roosevelt Sebastian Perdomo Torres was one of the seven in the van with Aleman, and only one of two who survived the impact from the Boeing 767. His lawyers filed a similar lawsuit against Air 21, Amazon and the pilots.

In the complaint, his attorneys wrote, “There was nowhere for him to go and no time to escape.” Perdomo Torres was ejected from the van and thrown to the ground, breaking his leg, ankle and hand.

Two other lawsuits have been filed in connection with the crash. The widow of the driver of the van, Rodriguez Naranjo, filed a complaint against the same parties. The sons of Pineda, another cleaning-crew member in the van, filed a wrongful-death lawsuit as well.

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