The National Transportation Safety Board said on Wednesday that the warning began one minute and 42 seconds before the cockpit voice recorder stopped. After one pilot called for the Boeing 767’s flaps to be set to 20 degrees, the other cautioned that they were too fast and continued making comments about excessive speed through the rest of the recording. Investigators said there was no consistent verbal response to those remarks.
The recording also captured a succession of automated alerts as 21 Air Flight 7598 descended towards Runway 30 on Sunday. A “sink rate” warning sounded twice, followed by repeated “too low terrain” alerts. One pilot called for the flaps to be set to 30 degrees about 41 seconds before the recording ended, only a second before an electronic altitude callout of 40 feet.
Sounds consistent with touchdown were captured 31 seconds before the recorder stopped. Sixteen seconds later, a pilot called for a go-around, the standard manoeuvre for abandoning a landing and climbing away for another attempt. Five seconds after that, the recorder captured sounds consistent with the aircraft leaving the paved surface.
Flight data released by the NTSB showed the aircraft’s nose gear and right main landing gear touched down at a groundspeed of 158 knots. Braking began seven seconds later at 146 knots, while the left main gear did not touch down until the aircraft had slowed to 134 knots.
At 120 knots, the brakes were released and the throttles were advanced to a setting consistent with go-around thrust, investigators said. Four seconds later, at 117 knots, the throttles were pulled back to idle and the brakes were applied again. The aircraft continued slowing, but the final recorded groundspeed was still 65 knots when the flight data recorder stopped.
The NTSB said the recorded data showed no indication that speed brakes or thrust reversers were deployed. The board stressed that the information is preliminary and subject to change, and it has not determined the probable cause of the accident.
Flight 7598, operated by North Carolina-based cargo carrier 21 Air for Amazon, had arrived from San Juan, Puerto Rico. The Boeing 767-33A overran the end of Runway 30 at about 2pm on September 6 after being cleared to land by Miami tower.
After leaving the runway, the aircraft struck navigational equipment and hit a Ford Econoline van carrying seven people employed by an aircraft-cleaning contractor. It then broke through the airport perimeter fence, struck a Toyota Corolla Cross travelling on Northwest 67th Avenue and continued into another fence line.
Five people were killed and five others were injured. The two pilots survived. Miami-Dade authorities identified those who died as Rolando Aleman, 55; Yoel Rodriguez Naranjo, 53; Julio C. Pineda, 75; Carlos Acosta Fajardo, 53; and Javierkys Reyes Quevedo, 47.
Investigators recovered both recorders from the crash site and sent them to the NTSB’s laboratory in Washington. The cockpit recorder contained more than two hours of good-quality audio across four channels, while the flight data recorder held about 54 hours of information covering more than 400 parameters.
The captain, 55, had logged 7,145 flight hours and received his Boeing 767 type rating in May, while the 37-year-old first officer had 2,655 hours and obtained his type rating in April 2025, according to information released during the investigation. Both pilots were interviewed by investigators on Wednesday.
The aircraft had flown from Cincinnati to Miami and then to San Juan before returning to Miami on the accident flight. Investigators said it travelled about 1,300 feet beyond the paved runway surface. Miami International Airport does not have an engineered materials arresting system at the end of Runway 30, although the NTSB has said the airport meets applicable runway safety-area requirements.
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