Amazon Prime Air cargo jet overruns a Miami runway and kills five people

CHAMBERSBURG – Federal investigators are working to determine what caused an Amazon-contracted cargo plane to overrun a runway at a Miami airport, killing five people on the ground. In recent years, there have been a growing number of cargo aircraft operating alongside commercial passenger flights in airports around the country. The plane, identified as an Amazon Prime Air cargo jet, reportedly overshot the runway after landing in Miami and continued into an area where vehicles and people were present. Attorney Clint Barkdoll said, 'It's not clear what happened. There sadly are five people that have been killed that were on the ground because it ran through an area where there's cars and people working.' The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash and is expected to release additional preliminary findings as investigators examine the aircraft, runway conditions and weather at the time of the incident. The two people aboard the aircraft survived the crash. Weather conditions also could become part of the investigation. Thunderstorms and gusty tailwinds were reported in the area around the time the plane landed. 'You wonder did that somehow contribute to having it overshoot or push it off the runway,' Barkdoll said. The crash also highlights the large number of cargo flights operating at major airports, including familiar carriers such as UPS and FedEx, as well as the growing presence of Amazon-contracted aircraft transporting packages. 'There's all these cargo planes that are moving in and out of major airports,' Barkdoll said. 'A lot of times they're at night. Think of things like UPS and FedEx. Now these Amazon contracted planes, pretty unusual.' Investigators are expected to learn more about what happened as the NTSB continues its examination of the crash, including whether weather, aircraft performance, runway conditions or other factors played a role in the plane's failure to stop after landing.