Questions about 21 Air’s safety record have resurfaced after an Amazon Prime Air cargo plane operated by the carrier overran the runway at Miami International Airport, killing five people on the ground.
The Boeing 767, operating as Flight 7598, came off runway 30 at about 1.53pm local time on Sunday, 6 September, after arriving from San Juan, Puerto Rico. It struck vehicles beyond the runway before catching fire.
The National Transportation Safety Board said the five people who died were travelling in vehicles hit by the aircraft. The pilots survived the crash and were later released from hospital.
Investigators have recovered the plane’s flight-data recorder and cockpit-voice recorder. The NTSB has not yet identified the cause of the accident and has stressed that it is too early to say whether any previous concerns about 21 Air played a part.
Safety complaints about 21 Air
Legal documents and testimony reviewed in connection with a US Department of Labour case show that former senior employees accused the airline of failing to deal with safety reports and retaliating against staff who raised concerns.
Karl Seuring, a pilot with more than three decades of experience and a former union president, alleged that he was dismissed after challenging practices at the airline. His complaint was rejected by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, but he appealed and the dispute proceeded to a Labour Department tribunal. The case remains unresolved.
Seuring and other former pilots alleged that managers discouraged safety reporting, scheduled crews without adequate rest, employed pilots who struggled to communicate safely in English and allowed aircraft with unresolved defects to fly.
In one complaint, Seuring said he was told to “just sign” flight-planning documents containing safety attestations, including declarations about crew duty and rest periods.
He also described an incident in April 2022 in which a Boeing 767 continued accelerating sharply after take-off from Newark, New Jersey. Seuring, who was in the jump seat, said the aircraft exceeded speeds that could have damaged its wing flaps and that there was no proper debrief afterwards.
Former chief pilot Bruce Joseph told the tribunal that he had personally witnessed people being discouraged from entering safety concerns into the company’s reporting system.
Joseph alleged that the company’s then-director of safety instructed him not to file reports before discussing them with chief executives. “Most of it did not,” he told the judge when asked whether the reports were eventually submitted.
Mike Mendez, who was 21 Air’s chief executive at the time, denied retaliating against employees and said he had always followed safety procedures. He suggested Joseph was attempting to make damaging claims after leaving the company in difficult circumstances.
Seuring’s lawyer also alleged that pilots were pressured to undertake flights with layovers that were too short to meet required rest periods. The claim was denied by the company.
Other former pilots raised concerns about maintenance. Tony Bless, who also gave evidence in the case, said defects were routinely deferred and that problems had occurred on the carrier’s ageing aircraft, which had been converted from passenger service.
Bless alleged that the aircraft’s radar failed during severe turbulence on a 2022 flight from Bermuda to New Jersey. Seuring separately cited alleged fuel leaks, radar faults, circuit-breaker problems and smoke in cockpits, while claiming pilots were coached on how to record defects.
Don Helmig, a former fighter pilot who had worked on safety policy at 21 Air, resigned in 2021 after sending owner Jim Crane a warning about what he described as a weak safety culture. In his resignation email, he accused executives of paying “lip service” to the company’s safety-management system while failing to act on concerns.
21 Air, which is controlled by Houston Astros owner Crane through an investment company, has not responded to requests for comment on the allegations. The carrier has said it is co-operating fully with the NTSB investigation and expressed condolences to the victims’ families.
Amazon said it would defer to the NTSB on the circumstances of the crash and to 21 Air on allegations predating its relationship with the carrier.
Flight 7598 was on its third journey of the day, having travelled from Cincinnati to Miami, then to San Juan and back to Miami, according to information presented by the NTSB. The agency said it was examining the aircraft, its maintenance history, crew actions and operating conditions as part of the investigation.
Two of Miami International Airport’s four runways remained closed on Tuesday while investigators documented the scene. More than 225 flights were cancelled on Sunday and Monday, with hundreds more delayed.
The NTSB has urged caution while evidence is collected. Any connection between the former employees’ allegations and the Miami crash would have to be established by the investigation.
