A Boeing 767-33A cargo jet flying as 21 Air Flight 7598 on behalf of Amazon Air touched down at 158 knots and overran Runway 30 at Miami International Airport on September 6, 2026, killing five people on the ground. The aircraft had departed from San Juan, Puerto Rico, and was landing in Miami when it crossed the end of the pavement, continued roughly 1,300 feet past the runway surface, and struck two vehicles.
The National Transportation Safety Board opened an investigation the same day, designated DCA26MA352, and by September 9 had pulled preliminary data from both the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder. That data, still described by the agency as subject to change, lays out a landing that went wrong in stages rather than all at once.
158 knots, then brakes, then throttle back up
According to the NTSB’s investigative update, the nose gear and right main gear touched down at a groundspeed of 158 knots, with brakes applied four seconds later at 146 knots and the left main gear touching down at 134 knots. Roughly 15 seconds before the cockpit recording ended, a pilot called for a go-around: the brakes were released at 120 knots and the throttles were pushed to a setting consistent with go-around thrust. That attempt did not hold. Four seconds later the throttles were pulled back to idle and the brakes were reapplied at 117 knots, and they stayed applied until the recording stopped at a final groundspeed of 65 knots. The agency’s readout found no indication that speed brakes or thrust reversers had been deployed at any point during the sequence.
Earlier in the same recording, one pilot had called for flaps to be set to 20 degrees while the other pilot warned repeatedly that the aircraft was too fast on approach, comments the NTSB says did not draw a consistent verbal response for the remainder of the flight. A series of automated cockpit warnings, including “sink rate” and “too low terrain” callouts, sounded in the final minute before touchdown.
Five dead in a cleaning company’s van
All five people killed were riding in a 2012 Ford Econoline van owned by Professional Ocean Service Corp., an aircraft-cleaning company, which had seven people inside when the jet struck it. Miami-Dade County Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz identified the dead at a news conference as Rolando Aleman Leon, 55; Yoel Rodriguez Narajo, 53; Julio C. Pineda, 75; Carlos Acosta Fajardo, 53; and Javierkys Reyes Quevedo, 47, according to ABC News‘s account of the briefing. The jet then crossed the airport’s perimeter fence and hit a Toyota Corolla Cross LE SUV; the two people in that vehicle were among the five injured. As of the Tuesday briefing, three of those five remained hospitalized, two in critical condition and one in stable condition, the sheriff said. The aircraft’s two pilots were treated and released.
Jennifer Homendy calls the wreckage field “devastating”
NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy told reporters the day after the crash that a team of 32 investigators was on site documenting the scene and collecting what she called perishable evidence before it degraded. “I would describe it in one word: devastating,” Homendy said, adding that fuel spread across the area still needed to be removed and remediated. She said the flight had already made two earlier stops that day, routing from Cincinnati to Miami to San Juan before the return leg that crashed, and that the investigation would examine crew training, 21 Air’s procedures, air traffic control communications, aircraft components and weather conditions. “We can only work to prevent the next tragedy if our recommendations at the end of an investigation are implemented,” she said. The NTSB’s case page lists the investigation’s status as ongoing, with the flight recorders sent to the agency’s Washington laboratory and a docket open to the public.
Amazon cuts ties with 21 Air
Amazon announced on September 14 that it was suspending its partnership with 21 Air, the North Carolina-based carrier that had flown packages for the company since 2024. “After the tragic incident last weekend, we’ve spent time supporting the investigation and reviewing some of the surrounding circumstances, and we’ve decided to pause our operations with 21 Air, the operator of Flight 7598,” Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel said, according to NPR’s reporting. 21 Air’s chief executive, Keith Winters, said in his own statement that the company was “devastated by the accident involving one of our aircraft in Miami” and was cooperating fully with the NTSB, the FAA and local authorities. The FAA confirmed that Flight 7598 overran the runway after landing around 2 p.m. local time.
Investigators still have to work out why the crew’s speed warnings on approach did not translate into an earlier abort, and NTSB officials have said the jet’s ownership history, maintenance records and 21 Air’s operating practices will all factor into that answer. No probable cause has been determined, and Homendy has said none will be assigned while the on-scene phase of the investigation is still underway.
This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.
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