Widow sues Amazon over Miami cargo plane crash

The widow of a man killed when an Amazon cargo plane overran a runway in Miami has filed a wrongful death lawsuit alleging a series of operational and pilot failures led to the crash.Yaraisi Santiso Morejon's husband, Yoel Rodrigues Naranjo, was driving a van carrying a cleaning crew when it was struck by the Boeing 767 freighter on Sunday.Her lawsuit names Amazon, the aircraft's operators and its two pilots and seeks at least $US50,000 ($69,274) in damages."This disaster was not an unavoidable accident," the document filed on Wednesday said."Each of these failures, standing alone, was sufficient to cause death. Together, they were catastrophic."The lawsuit comes as US investigators revealed one of the pilots repeatedly warned the other that the aircraft was travelling too fast during its approach and after it touched down.The wreckages of multiple, overturned vehicles were visible alongside the runway. (Reuters: Marco Bello)The Amazon Prime Air freighter had arrived at Miami International Airport from San Juan, Puerto Rico, when it overran the runway, striking vehicles on and near airport property before catching fire.Five people were killed and another five injured. Two of the injured remained in critical condition on Tuesday.The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is investigating the cause of the crash and has not yet reached conclusions about what went wrong.Pilot repeatedly warned plane was going too fastA summary of cockpit voice recordings released by the NTSB on Wednesday showed that, for nearly two minutes, one pilot repeatedly warned the other that the plane was travelling too fast as it approached the runway and after touchdown.The NTSB said there was not "a consistent verbal response" to the warnings.Former US Federal Aviation Administration official Mike O'Donnell said the crew still had several options when the first warning was made, including taking measures to reduce the aircraft's speed or abandoning the landing and circling for another attempt.Aerial views show the runway in Miami following the crash. (Reuters)"You have plenty of time to slow down, plenty of time to say 'let's just do a go-around' at two minutes out," said Mr O'Donnell, who previously oversaw airport safety and crash investigations.Flight recorder data also released on Wednesday showed the aircraft making an unsteady approach amid strong winds.After touching down the pilots briefly disengaged the brakes and increased the throttles, apparently attempting to take off again and make another approach. That attempt was abandoned about four seconds later.The cockpit recordings also captured a series of automated warnings about the aircraft's rate of descent and its proximity to terrain.Mr O'Donnell said those warnings reinforced indications the aircraft had been unstable on approach and raised questions about whether it had been correctly configured for landing.The plane was already well down the runway when its right and nose landing gear first touched down, leaving less distance in which to stop.The cargo plane overran a runway at Miami International Airport. (Reuters: Marco Bello)Flight-tracking site Flightradar24 estimated from the NTSB data that the aircraft was nearly halfway down the 2,853-metre runway when it first touched down.Strong winds associated with approaching storms may also have produced a tailwind that increased the aircraft's ground speed.Investigators examining aircraft and operatorFormer airline pilot and safety expert Steve Arroyo said the information released by investigators pointed to a breakdown in communication and teamwork in the cockpit."Where's the coordination? Where's the leadership here in terms of managing the flight deck? And following the trained guidelines set forth in the company's flight manual?" he said.Mary Schiavo, a former inspector-general of the US Department of Transportation, said investigators were likely to examine the relative seniority of the pilots and whether that influenced communication in the cockpit.She questioned whether the pilot flying the aircraft may have been the more senior captain while "the junior pilot was not aggressive in challenging".The 32-year-old Boeing 767 was originally built as a passenger aircraft and flew for several airlines overseas for more than two decades before being converted into a freighter in 2015, according to Flightradar24.The flight was operated by 21 Air, a North Carolina-based cargo carrier that has transported packages for Amazon since 2024.NTSB investigators are expected to examine the aircraft's history and maintenance records, the weather conditions at the airport and 21 Air's operations as they work to determine the cause of the crash.It was the second fatal crash involving a cargo jet in the United States in less than a year.A UPS aircraft crashed after losing an engine while accelerating down the runway at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport in October.All three pilots and 12 people on the ground were killed, while another 23 people were injured.ABC/AP