Investigators yet to confirm crucial information including aircraft’s speed, threshold height, and touchdown point.US investigators have disclosed that the Boeing 767-300 freighter which overran runway 30 at Miami on 6 September struck two vehicles before coming to a halt.
The aircraft collided with navigation aids and equipment, and hit a van from a cleaning firm, with seven occupants, within airport grounds before breaking through a perimeter fence.
It then struck a passenger SUV on the NW 67th Avenue highway, lying some 800ft beyond the paved surface of the runway, and continued through another fence-line separating an area where robot taxis are stationed.
National Transportation Safety Board chair Jennifer Homendy, speaking during a 7 September briefing, said the accident left an extensive trail of damage, adding that the van was “torn apart”.
Five fatalities resulted from the overrun which occurred at 13:53.
Homendy confirmed the Prime Air-branded twinjet, powered by GE Aerospace CF6 engines, was operated by 21 Air on behalf of retailer Amazon.
It was conducting its third flight of the day, from San Juan to Miami, following Cincinnati-Miami and Miami-San Juan sectors.
Homendy gave few details, however, on specific aircraft data including its speed, the height at which it crossed the runway 30 threshold, touchdown point, or any information on system functionality such as the brakes or thrust-reversers.
She says the aircraft travelled about 1,300ft past the paved surface.
While investigators have retrieved the cockpit-voice and flight-data recorders, and the inquiry has gathered a certain amount of provisional information, she adds, the safety board needs to verify its accuracy before releasing it.
“We do have data but it’s from various sources,” she says.
Homendy says recovery work is continuing, pointing out that there is “fuel everywhere” and fuel is also being removed from the jet.
The safety board has established, as usual, teams to examine various aspects such as systems, engines, training, air traffic control, meteorology, and emergency response.
Homendy adds that the inquiry will also look at “the lack thereof” of and engineered materials arresting system, or EMAS – a section of collapsible surface designed to bring aircraft to a halt quickly during overruns.
She gave no information on the pilots’ condition, but says the safety board will need to interview the crew as part of the inquiry.
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