Five people were killed and several others injured when an Amazon cargo airplane crashed after overrunning the runway at Miami International Airport on Sunday. <\/p>\n
The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration are conducting a full investigation of the incident. WPTV learned Miami International Airport does not have an Engineered Materials Arresting System (EMAS) \u2014 a safety feature present at about 70 U.S. airports, including Boca Raton Airport, Donald J. Trump International and Martin County Airport, but not at MIA.<\/p>\n
WATCH: Miami cargo plane crash brings safety system concerns to forefront<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are here to document the scene and collect the perishable evidence,\u201d NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy said. <\/p>\n
According to crash scene data shared by Homendy, the plane traveled roughly 1,300 feet past the runway, colliding with a 2012 Ford van carrying a seven-person airport cleaning crew, then striking a fence and a Toyota Corolla on a perimeter road. <\/p>\n
\u201cDevastating. Utter devastation,\u201d Homendy described, emphasizing the tire marks and scattered debris during her briefing.<\/p>\n
Why This Matters Now<\/p>\n
A growing number of U.S. airports are using EMAS, a crushable concrete system designed to stop planes that overshoot runways.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s like trying to drive a car in sand, if you will,\u201d said aviation expert Steven Arroyo, a retired United Airlines captain based in Palm Beach Gardens.<\/p>\n
Investigators have recovered the cockpit voice recorder and are examining speed, mechanics, weather conditions and potential pilot error.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened here? Why was this aircraft coming in the way that it did and it was an unstable approach,\u201d said Arroyo. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of information out there, ADS-B, radar data, that showed the aircraft was at excessive speed. It\u2019s all about situational awareness.\u201d<\/p>\n
Airport safety system under scrutiny<\/p>\n
After WPTV learned Miami International Airport does not employ EMAS, airport officials responded in a statement: <\/p>\n
\u201cRunway 12\/30 at Miami International Airport has the full 1,000-foot Runway Safety Area mandated by the FAA,” officials said in the statement. “EMAS is typically used at airports where space constraints prevent a full safety area. EMAS is intended as an alternative, not an additional layer. MIA undergoes comprehensive FAA safety inspections annually and consistently meets federal requirements.\u201d<\/p>\n
Miami-Dade<\/p>\n
5 dead after Amazon cargo plane overruns runway at MIA<\/p>\n
When asked whether EMAS could have changed the outcome, Arroyo said: \u201cCertainly it could have. There are a lot of variables but an extra layer of safety, yes\u2014perhaps maybe it would have saved all the lives.\u201d <\/p>\n
Last September, Boca Raton Airport used EMAS to bring a plane to a full stop after a runway overrun, demonstrating its life-saving ability.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy isn\u2019t it at every airport? I think it comes down to money, budgeting, and the FAA needs to allocate funds where needed,\u201d Arroyo said.<\/p>\n
NTSB officials stated that a cause will not be determined on scene. The investigative team will remain in Miami for at least a week, with a media briefing scheduled for Tuesday.<\/p>\n
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Five people were killed and several others injured when an Amazon cargo airplane crashed after overrunning the runway…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":393458,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124],"class_list":["post-393457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=393457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393457\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/393458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=393457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=393457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=393457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}