The pilots of the Amazon cargo plane that crashed in Miami, killing five people, were issued multiple warnings for flying “too low” to the ground — and acknowledged they were going “too fast” before they overshot the runway, officials said.
The National Transit Safety Board (NTSB) released transcripts from the Boeing 767’s cockpit voice recorder Wednesday that revealed one of the two pilots made a remark about the plane’s high rate of speed about 100 seconds before they hit the ground.
“The other pilot made additional comments regarding the aircraft’s excessive speed throughout the remainder of the recording. There was not a consistent verbal response to the comments about speed,” the NTSB said
The autopilot appears to have disconnected seconds later, according to the recording, and a “too low terrain” callout was issued electronically four times.
The recording then captured the plane landing on the runway and ”sounds similar to the aircraft departing the paved surface.”
Prime Air flight 7598 crashed on the runway at Miami International Airport around 2 p.m. Sunday before plowing into multiple vehicles and bursting into flames, officials said.
Five people died in the incident. Five others were injured, including the pilots, identified Tuesday as Felipe Silva Molina, 37, and Joseph Carroll, 55.
Federal investigators are focusing on whether the plane landed too late to stop safely on the runway.
