Amazon Pilot Fired After Whistleblowing Before Fatal Crash
Five people died Sunday when an Amazon Prime Air cargo jet overran a runway at Miami International Airport and struck two vehicles. The Boeing 767, flown for Amazon by 21 Air, left the pavement by about 1,300 feet after arriving from San Juan shortly before 2 p.m. Both pilots survived. The five people killed were on the ground. Five others were injured.
The flight, Prime Air 7598, was the crew’s third of the day. National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy described the scene as “utter devastation.” Investigators say the landing was unsteady and that the thrust reversers were not used. Flight data show the crew appeared to add go-around power in the final seconds. Later briefings said one pilot warned they were coming in too fast. The NTSB planned to interview both pilots. A probable cause has not been issued.
The airplane was carrying about 32,222 pounds of cargo, mostly contact lenses. Officials said no hazardous materials were aboard.
The operator, 21 Air, is a North Carolina cargo carrier. After the crash, former employees restated earlier complaints about the company’s safety culture. Those complaints are part of an unfinished labor fight. They are not an official finding that this landing was caused by that history.
Retired pilot Tony Bless told CBS that some former 21 Air pilots had feared a serious accident, pointing to maintenance, pressure from the chief pilot’s office, and hiring. Karl Seuring, who filed a Department of Labor complaint after he was fired, said, “Unfortunately, 21 Air has a long-established history of safety problems.” He said a manager told him, “It’s not going to change.” His case is still pending.
Bruce Joseph, a former chief pilot, testified that employees were discouraged from logging safety issues and that a safety director told him not to enter items in the company’s safety software before speaking with then-CEO Mike Mendez. Joseph said doing so would have brought “the wrath of Mike.” Mendez denied the allegations in a 2024 tribunal. He said Joseph was trying to “make up” damaging claims and that his responsibility was to run a safe airline, “not to hurt people and not to hide anything.”
Those filings concern 21 Air as a company. They do not establish that Capt. Joseph Carroll or First Officer Jaime Felipe Silva Molina, the crew on Sunday’s flight, were the source of that complaint record.
A witness told CBS that one of the pilots was shaken after the crash, borrowed a phone, and said his career was over. That account has not been confirmed by investigators.
Five families are grieving. 21 Air has a documented whistleblower dispute. Amazon contracted the flight. The NTSB is still reconstructing the last half-minute of the landing. Those facts belong in the same story. They do not yet add up to a verdict on who is responsible.
Editors note: updated 10:47am to fix information.