The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Chair Jennifer Homendy held a press briefing on Monday after a Boeing Co. (NYSE:BA) cargo aircraft, part of e-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc.‘s (NASDAQ:AMZN) “Prime Air,” crashed into ground vehicles in Miami, Florida, after traveling off the runway.
Jennifer Homendy Says NTSB Will Probe Amazon-21 Air Partnership
During the press briefing shared by Fox News, Homendy said that the incident took place on Sunday at 1:53 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time at the Miami International Airport when the Amazon Air Flight 7598, which was a Boeing 767 aircraft operated by Miami-based 21Air LLC for Amazon.
“What we know so far is the flight was arriving from San Juan, Puerto Rico, with two crew members on board. This was the third flight for the aircraft,” she said.
The flight overran the runway and struck navigational aids, as well as collided with a white Ford Motor Co. (NYSE:F) van that had seven occupants on board and belonged to a cleaning company. The aircraft also struck a Toyota Motor Corp (NYSE:TM) Corolla. “In total, it was about 1,300 feet past the paved surface,” she said.
Homendy said that the agency would focus its efforts on recovering the victims and that there was “fuel everywhere” following the incident. She added that the agency will probe the “operations and human performance,” as well as the “history of the accident flight.”
The agency will probe the crew’s experience and training, Homendy said. NTSB will also probe 21air LLC policies and procedures and its relationship with Amazon. “We’re going to want to see what that relationship is, who does what,” she said. “What safety provisions might be in any sort of contracts or any sort of policies,” she added.
FAA Oversight, Utter Devastation
Homendy added that the NTSB will look at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) oversight and Air Traffic Control, as well as the aircraft and its components themselves.
She said that the agency would be in Miami “for at least a week” and would “not be determining probable cause” for the incident on scene. “We are here to document the scene and to collect the perishable evidence,” Homendy said. “I would describe it in one word of devastating. Utter devastation,” Homendy said, when asked to describe the scene.
When Benzinga reached out for comment, a Boeing spokesperson said that the company offers its “deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of those who lost their lives in the accident.” The spokesperson added that “Boeing is supporting the investigation led by the U.S National Transportation Safety Board.”
They also provided information about the aircraft. The spokesperson said that the particular unit of the “767-300 was first delivered as a passenger airplane in 1994 and was later converted to a freighter by a third party,” but did not provide other details.
Amazon did not immediately respond to Benzinga’s request for comment, while 21Air CEO Keith Winters issued a statement saying that the company was “devastated” by the incident. The statement added that the company was supporting the authorities as the investigation goes on.
FAA Fine, 2025 Crash
Boeing had earlier paid $3.1 million in fines related to multiple safety-related breaches, as well as undermining the independence of FAA safety personnel when determining the airworthiness of the aircraft. In 2025, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner crashed minutes after takeoff in India’s Ahmedabad. The incident resulted in the deaths of 260 people.
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