← back to summary

NTSB Media Briefing 2 - Miami, FL Runway excursion accident involving a B-767-300 cargo airplane

Channel: NTSBgov · Duration: 25:30 · source

[00:00] She'll make some remarks, take your questions, and with her is Investigator-in-Charge Chihoon [00:07] Shin, C-H-I-H-O-O-N, Shin, S-H-I-N. [00:21] Thank you for joining us. [00:23] I'm Jennifer Homendy, and I am the Chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board, [00:29] and with me tonight is our Investigator-in-Charge, or IIC, for this investigation, Mr. Chihoon [00:36] Shin. [00:38] As I mentioned yesterday, today is really our first full day of this investigation. [00:45] Most of our team was coming in throughout the day yesterday. [00:48] Today our team is complete this afternoon. [00:52] Some of our investigators have traveled from Europe from another investigation to come straight [00:57] here. [00:58] They arrived, and so our full team is on scene. [01:05] Most of the day was really focused on documenting the scene. [01:10] I mentioned yesterday that what we're doing here is looking for the perishable evidence. [01:15] That's what goes away once the runways are cleared, once vehicles are moved, once the [01:21] plane is moved. [01:23] So we want to be able to document the evidence, and that is our focus right now. [01:28] When it comes to information that's contained in manuals, contained in procedures, contained [01:35] in written documents, we're requesting those, but we're not going to look through those [01:39] and analyze those here on scene, because here on scene we're focused on that evidence, [01:46] focused on taking pictures, videos, drone footage, measurements of tire marks on runways. [01:53] Many of which throughout the day I have received several questions about the runways and how [02:02] long they will be out of commission for or closed for our investigation. [02:09] So we worked diligently throughout the day to try to turn some of that back over. [02:16] We were able, thankfully, to get through some of the measurements and documentation [02:21] on the runway, at least eight right. [02:25] So we were able to turn over eight right, runway eight right, at taxiway mic two for departures [02:34] in the easterly direction. [02:37] I will say a big thank you to, first of all, the mayor, Mayor Cava, who I know that's [02:45] been a big concern for her as the, right now, the airport is capacity constrained. [02:51] And we want to take that into account in our work, while also being thorough. [02:57] But also I today went with my team over to the tower, to the tracon, and I want to thank [03:04] Natka President, that's the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, President [03:08] Nick Daniels, for taking me over there. [03:13] And I want to thank Louis Cologne, the air traffic manager, and Ryan Holgren, who's [03:20] the facility Natka President, for taking me to the tower, to taking me to the tracon, to [03:27] giving me a view of the runways, of looking over the scene of the accident, but then also [03:35] to talk to the controllers. [03:37] And one thing I do want to say, if the controllers are watching, they are going through a lot. [03:45] It is also something that they experience a tough time after tragedy. [03:52] They have the critical incident stress management team, or CISM team, that's Natka's peer support [04:00] team there on site for anyone who wants to talk. [04:05] Just like we have an employee assistance program for our personnel, I would encourage the controllers [04:13] to utilize that. [04:15] It can be quite traumatic, and they're certainly going through a difficult time, not just from [04:20] the tragedy, but also trying to get through a capacity-constrained airport right now, and [04:28] all the challenges that brings. [04:31] So thank you to them. [04:34] Our operations team, they went to 21 Air's operations control center today and interviewed [04:42] the flight follower who is a certified dispatcher. [04:46] For those who aren't familiar with dispatchers, they conduct pre-flight planning, they'll check [04:53] notices to airmen, they'll do active flight following, they'll get weather updates and [04:58] monitor the weather. [05:02] Tomorrow they have interviews scheduled with the assistant chief pilot and both pilots [05:07] of this aircraft. [05:09] Those will begin at 9 a.m. [05:12] We will also be interviewing the chief pilot for 21 Air, but that has not been scheduled. [05:18] It will be scheduled. [05:22] Someone asked me yesterday about the experience of the pilots of this aircraft, so I do have [05:27] some information that we can provide on that. [05:30] The captain is 55 years old, received his type rating in the 7-6 in May 2026. [05:41] According to his latest Class 1 medical, which is dated March 31, 2026, he has 7,145 hours. [05:53] The first officer, age 37, received his type rating in the 7-6 on April 2, 2025. [06:04] According to his Class 1 medical dated August 13, 2026, he has 2,655 hours. [06:14] Now we'll talk to the crew in interviews tomorrow to get their updated hours and then we'll [06:19] compare that with the company records and provide further information as we receive it. [06:25] I also mentioned yesterday that we recovered the cockpit voice recorder and flight data [06:30] recorder from the accident site and transported them to our lab in D.C. [06:36] The aircraft is equipped with an ACRON Aviation Model FA-2100 cockpit voice recorder and [06:45] an ONTIC Model SSFDR flight data recorder. [06:50] The cockpit voice recorder contained more than two hours of good quality audio. [06:56] Now we're interviewing the pilots tomorrow and we want to hear their account of the [07:01] accident before we release a readout of the cockpit voice recorder. [07:07] We're going to do that tomorrow. [07:09] The flight data recorder contained approximately 55 hours of data and recorded more than 400 [07:17] parameters. [07:18] And I'm going to turn this over briefly to Mr. Shin to provide some select events from [07:23] that. [07:24] Thank you, Chairwoman Homendy. [07:29] The times I'll provide are times until the end of recording on the flight data recorder, [07:35] 30 seconds before the end of the recording, the nose landing gear and the right main landing [07:41] gear touched down and ground speed was 158 knots, 23 seconds before the end of the recording, [07:53] brakes were applied, ground speed was 146 knots, 19 seconds before the end of the recording, [08:01] the left main landing gear touched down at a ground speed of 134 knots, 15 seconds before [08:10] the end of recording, brakes were released at a ground speed of 120 knots, throttles increased [08:18] to values consistent with go around thrust, 11 seconds before the end of recording, throttles [08:26] were reduced to idle power, brakes were reapplied and the ground speed was 117 knots. [08:34] The throttles remained at idle and brakes continued to be applied until the end of the recording. [08:40] Seven seconds before the end of recording, lateral, longitudinal and vertical accelerations [08:46] changed, ground speed was 96 knots at this time, and zero seconds at the end of recording [08:54] were the last data frame, final ground speed was 65 knots, no indication in the recorded [09:01] data that speed brakes or thrust reversers were deployed. [09:07] I'll turn it back to Chairwoman Hamadi. [09:10] Thank you, Mr. Shin. [09:15] I do have some information on weights. [09:18] The takeoff weight for the aircraft was 252,182 pounds, that's 252,182 pounds. [09:30] The planned landing weight was 231,236 pounds and the cargo weighed 32,222 pounds. [09:44] There were no hazardous materials on board. [09:47] We have the manifest of the cargo and the hazmat team on site. [09:52] They did confirm there was no hazmat on board. [09:56] The cargo was mainly made up of contact lenses, again, weighing 32,222 pounds and then, of [10:04] course, a flight kit. [10:07] With that, I'm going to take questions. [10:10] If you raise your hand, state your name, affiliation, I'll call on you, limit it to one question. [10:15] If we need to do multiple rounds, we will. [10:18] Pete. [10:19] I understand that you were not able to talk much about what's on the cockpit voice reform, [10:24] but can you say whether or not the crew had any sort of exchange about this landing [10:32] that was clearly gone wrong? [10:34] Did they see that they were landing wrong or high or fast? [10:38] Was there any sort of indication, crosstalk between them, that there was an issue? [10:43] Yeah. [10:45] The question is, were the pilots in the cockpit talking about the landing? [10:54] Was there any sort of exchange about whether it was too fast, too high, too long? [10:59] We'll provide a full readout of the cockpit voice recorder tomorrow. [11:02] We do have questions for the pilots. [11:05] We do have interviews scheduled throughout the day tomorrow. [11:08] Then we can provide that information and hopefully supplement what we see in the cockpit [11:14] voice recorder. [11:15] I guess what is missing? [11:16] Why do you need to talk to them before saying that? [11:18] You have to record it, so why do you need to go to them? [11:24] Do you just need to collaborate it? [11:26] I don't understand. [11:27] No, we have additional questions. [11:28] The question is, why aren't we releasing it? [11:30] We have additional questions. [11:31] We have interviews tomorrow. [11:33] We'll provide information tomorrow on the cockpit voice recorder. [11:36] Yes, ma'am. [11:37] I wanted to see if there was any discussion about what was deployed or not. [11:44] Could you, in other words, say what we noticed within that reading? [11:54] Yeah, go ahead. [11:56] The question was what we noticed in the reading with what was deployed at the end of the recording, [12:01] which I stated was the thrust reversers and the speed breaks were not deployed. [12:08] So right now I'm not going to speculate about what should have been. [12:11] Again, we have an aircraft performance study, and we're going to do that. [12:16] Plus, with the flight data recorder analysis, when we analyze the full list of parameters, [12:21] we'll have a better idea of the aircraft performance during this landing. [12:25] Was it normal? [12:26] Was it not? [12:27] And what was working and what was not? [12:28] So I'm not going to speculate on what should have been right now. [12:33] Yes, sir. [12:35] Larry C. with CBS Miami. [12:36] My question was about the speed breaks deployment. [12:41] Is it abnormal for them to not be deployed at that point in the landing? [12:46] And the second question is, at what time did you run it in the turn field? [12:51] The first question was on the speed breaks deployment. [12:54] And just to answer that question, again, that's analogous. [12:58] That is something we have to work through and conduct an aircraft performance study, [13:06] which we are going to do. [13:08] Through our research and engineering team is on scene and working on that now. [13:14] On the runways, the question is, when was that opened up? [13:19] I don't have information on when it was opened up. [13:22] When we provided the authority to do so was at about 6, 7 p.m. this evening. [13:32] Yes, sir. [13:33] And then we'll go back to Pete. [13:34] So the information I provided is only what's on the flight data recorder. [13:58] What we need to do is talk to the crew and get their account to understand [14:02] how they're manipulating the controls in order to get a better understanding of the situation. [14:07] So we need that information. [14:10] That's a key piece of information. [14:12] With the cockpit voice recorder, while we have that data, crew accounts and crew interviews [14:17] will help fill in some of the blanks for us that the crew remembers in terms of actions [14:23] that they might have done but not verbalized. [14:26] And so that's something that we need a complete understanding of before we're to analyze [14:31] what happened with the throttles in this case. [14:35] Pete? [14:36] Are you able to say, you know, 15 seconds prior to the recording and the flight data recorder, [14:43] brakes released, 120 knots, power applied for go around. [14:47] How far was that to impact? [14:50] Like, how far away was that? [14:52] The question is, on our flight data recorder, the data that was provided, [14:57] how far away from impact with the van or anything else. [15:01] Was that? [15:02] That's something we still have to determine. [15:05] We did try to go through that today. [15:06] We don't have that yet, but we will provide that. [15:13] That we would have to determine. [15:15] Yep. [15:17] Yes, ma'am. [15:18] I wanted to ask, you know, you talked a little bit about the traffic controllers being in [15:25] the shout-out. [15:26] Specifically, do we know if the traffic controllers were in communication with the violence at [15:30] this point? [15:31] Is that conversation something that you can shed some light on? [15:34] You know, did the traffic controllers know what was happening? [15:37] Was there any signs? [15:39] You know, I know you reveal that. [15:41] But I think you can share with us about that. [15:44] That communication between those. [15:46] Well, right now, our air traffic control team has been focused on setting up interviews [15:52] with air traffic controllers, and we don't have a transcript yet of all air traffic communications [16:00] that we want to get and match up with what we have on the cockpit voice recorder. [16:06] But we don't have that yet, so I want to hold off on any sort of comments on that. [16:12] As far as the air traffic controllers that were there, we're also trying to figure out [16:18] who was on duty then. [16:21] We have information on the list of people in the tower from the services rendered telecom. [16:33] That's the teleconference that is pulled together after an accident pretty quickly or within hours [16:40] of an accident that is run by the FAA. [16:43] We are not part of that teleconference, but it's pulled together quickly, and information [16:50] is often inaccurate on it. [16:53] And so their FAA is taking a second look just to make sure they've given us an accurate list [17:01] of personnel that were on duty then, and then we can schedule interviews. [17:06] So that will help us to determine what was going on in the tower, what communications [17:12] were occurring with each other, and then getting a transcript will help us with communications [17:16] outside of that. [17:23] Why the services rendered telecom isn't accurate. [17:27] It's pulled together quickly after, it's an FAA internal teleconference that they have [17:34] to go over what they know so far on the accident. [17:37] Like any sort of accident, information that we receive within hours and days of an accident [17:46] can often be wrong, and it takes us some time to make sure that information we're providing [17:53] is right, but we're getting wrong information. [17:56] It's not unusual because a lot is going on and a lot of information is coming together [18:01] that we have to validate, or FAA has to validate before they give it to us. [18:06] That's not unusual, so it does take time to do that. [18:10] But we need that list so we can set up further interviews with air traffic controllers. [18:14] Thank you. [18:15] Yes, sir? [18:16] The question is, what type of perishable evidence does our team still need to find? [18:27] They're continuing to take measurements on Runway 30 and 12. [18:36] They are, I believe, drone footage is done, but they are also taking photos, video. [18:44] There's debris. [18:45] They found some debris in the Tesla parking lot today. [18:53] They were also able to get the black box off of one of the vehicles, the SUV. [19:00] Today, they also were able to look at both engines and get in the cockpit, but they're [19:07] going to want to get into other areas of the aircraft, which they weren't able to do today, [19:13] and then, of course, take other measurements in the area. [19:17] There's tire marks throughout the grass that they're going to want to measure as [19:19] well. [19:20] Yes? [19:21] So, the question is timing for our investigation. [19:42] We're going to be on scene for about a week. [19:46] We don't have a set time. [19:48] It's about a week. [19:49] It will take some time because we're still, as I stated, documenting the evidence, so [19:56] we still have to have the aircraft there. [19:59] We're working through that, like I said, expeditiously. [20:03] But then, what happens is when we leave our on-scene work, we go back to headquarters, [20:09] and our team will pull together a preliminary report within a couple of weeks of our on-scene [20:14] work. [20:16] Preliminary report is public and issued. [20:19] It's usually the factual information that we have so far. [20:23] But then, we need time, one, to continue to conduct interviews and gather evidence that [20:33] we've requested for various parts of the investigation. [20:39] And then, once we get that evidence and those materials, it usually spurs more requests [20:44] for materials, and then we have to analyze that. [20:47] So, it will take some time. [20:49] Last question. [20:51] Yes? [20:52] Workers face extreme risks in airports, and I know that you guys have investigated some [20:56] former deaths in recent memories given that they've sucked into engines, tires exploding, [21:01] you name it. [21:02] Have you spoken to the families, and what does it say about the risk that workers on [21:06] airports face? [21:08] The question is on the risk to workers at airports. [21:14] I mean, this is certainly very tragic. [21:20] You would not think riding in a van to clean an airplane that this would happen. [21:30] No one would think that. [21:31] It's the unthinkable, and I can't imagine what, or can only imagine what this family [21:37] is, these families are going through. [21:39] Their family assistance team is here, and they are working with our partners to gather [21:46] resources for the families to provide them with all the latest information on our [21:51] investigation in real time, but I'm sure it's quite tragic for them. [22:00] One more question. [22:01] The resources that you mentioned are available for people working here and going through [22:15] this transition in time, I can speak to the resources for the families. [22:21] So the families of those who were injured or who were killed in this accident, they [22:29] would get resources, connected with resources from counseling to where to stay, hotels, [22:39] how to get resources for travel, for food, to get where they need to go, information [22:45] about our investigation, and so we pull all those resources, we work with the Red Cross [22:50] and others to pull all that information together for them so that they can access those resources. [22:58] With respect to the airport itself, I'm not aware of that. [23:05] The controllers through the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, NACCA, their union, [23:11] they have a peer support program. [23:15] It's a program where it's peer to peer counseling. [23:19] They're there to listen. [23:22] You know, I talk to the controllers. [23:24] We can be so mission driven that it's go, go, go. [23:28] I mean, I see it at the NTSB every day, and I shared a personal story with them, and we [23:34] often think that we can be brave and continue going, and this doesn't affect us, just have [23:40] a conversation, please, please, and you may not think you need to, but just having a conversation [23:49] with a peer, get, you know, and there is other help resources that are available. [24:00] NACCA can help provide some of those resources to their traffic controllers, and they are on [24:05] scene in the tower right now. [24:07] Thank you for the question, and we will send out an investigative update. [24:13] We expect to send out an investigative update tomorrow with the cockpit voice recorder readout, [24:21] and any other updates we want to provide. [24:23] This will be the last on scene press briefing, but we will provide additional updates. [24:29] As they are available, please monitor our website. [24:32] One more thing. [24:33] I did see reports, and I'm going to end it on this. [24:36] I did see reports of safety concerns regarding 21 Air. [24:43] I don't know anything about those, but what I will say is, just like when we were looking [24:49] for evidence, if you have anything you want to share, please send that in to witness at [24:54] NTSB.gov. [24:55] If you think anything is relevant to this investigation, anything, send it in to witness [25:02] at NTSB.gov. [25:04] Thank you very much.