The Amazon cargo jet that overshot a runway at the Miami International Airport, killing five people, is under federal investigation while some wonder if a safety barrier could have prevented the deaths.
A Prime Air Flight headed back to Miami from Puerto Rico on Sunday overshot the runway at the Florida airport and collided with two cars. The crash killed at least five people and injured five others in what National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy described in a Monday press conference as a “devastating” scene.
“There’s debris everywhere,” she said.
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The jet remains on the still-closed runway Tuesday. The incident has sparked questions about what safety measures the airport had to prevent the deadly crash. One measure in particular is a man-made crush zone, called the Engineered Material Arresting System, or EMAS. It uses crushable material at the end of a runway to stop an aircraft that overshoots a landing, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Tires sink into the material, and the plane rapidly decelerates as it barrels through the EMAS.
The Boston Logan, Chicago O’Hare, Charlotte Douglas, John F. Kennedy, LaGuardia, Newark Liberty, Ronald Reagan and Philadelphia International airports are some of the nation’s busiest airports and all have an EMAS bed, according to the FAA. The zones have stopped 26 aircraft with a combined 497 crew and passengers aboard.
But the zones aren’t feasible for all airports. The FAA noted that environmental barriers, highly populated areas off runways, drop-offs and a lack of land can prevent airports from installing more runway safety areas.
According to the FAA, the Miami airport doesn’t have an EMAS installed. The Florida airports with barriers are the Venice Municipal Airport, Key West International Airport, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, Boca Raton Airport, Witham Field and the President Donald J. Trump International Airport. Barriers in the state have stopped six plane runoff incidents.
Greg Chin, communications director at the Miami-Dade Aviation Department, told Straight Arrow that the airport has a full 1,000-foot runway safety area as mandated by the FAA.
“Engineered Materials Arresting Systems, or EMAS, are generally used at airports where space constraints prevent a full safety area from being provided,” he wrote via email. “No U.S. airport has EMAS at a runway end that also maintains the full, unobstructed 1,000-foot safety area.”
Homendy didn’t answer a reporter’s question Monday about whether the EMAS could have prevented the Amazon jet crash.
She did mention that the NTSB has investigated more than 3,000 runway excursions since 2008. Future crashes, Homendy added, could only be prevented if recommendations are implemented.
“One is too often for the NTSB,” she said.
An ‘alternative,’ not added, safety measure
Chin added that the EMAS is regarded as an alternative safety measure for airports, rather an additional layer to be added on top of another.
According to a review of the runway, there’s a swath of grass between the end of the runway and Northwest 67th Avenue, which is where the Boeing 767-300 cargo jet collided with a shuttle van and a Toyota.
Chin added that the FAA conducts a comprehensive safety inspection every year and has concluded the airport met federal airfield safety requirements.
Michael O’Donnell, who once oversaw air traffic and airport safety at the FAA, told The New York Times he hasn’t seen any airport with a 1,000-foot runway safety area and an EMAS bed. He questioned if the runway itself was long enough to prevent the fatal crash.
The NTSB is expected to release further preliminary details about the crash at its press briefing Tuesday evening. Homedy declined to answer many questions that she said could compromise the investigation.
Crash kills five, injures five
Five people on the ground were killed in the crash. The Miami-Dade County Sheriff’s Office said Tuesday that they were all in a shuttle van transporting plane-cleaning crews. Another car was hit in the crash, but no one died in that vehicle.
At least five people were injured in the crash, including the two Amazon jet pilots, who were later released from a nearby hospital, Miami-Dade County Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz said Tuesday, according to The Associated Press. Three people remain hospitalized — two are still in critical condition.
Cordero-Stutz said that those killed were between 47 and 75 years old.
The crash has extended runway closures into the second day as crew assess the damage and remove debris.
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