The news
On September 6, 2026, an Amazon Air crash at Miami International Airport killed five people on the ground when a Boeing 767 cargo jet operated by contractor 21 Air overran the runway while landing and struck two vehicles.
Flight 7598, arriving from Luis Munoz Marin International Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico, overran Runway 30 at about 1:53 p.m. Eastern time, ABC News reported. The jet, which CBS News Miami said was built in 1994, traveled about 1,300 feet past the paved runway. It hit a van with seven people inside, owned by aircraft cleaning contractor Professional Ocean Service Corp., and then a Toyota SUV on Northwest 67th Avenue outside the airport perimeter.
All five people killed were in the van, according to ABC News, which named them as Rolando Aleman Leon, 55; Yoel Rodriguez Naranjo, 53; Julio C. Pineda, 75; Carlos Acosta Fajardo, 53; and Javierkys Reyes Quevedo, 47. Five others were injured: the two pilots, who were treated and released, and three people who were hospitalized, two of them in critical condition. ABC reported that a ground stop at the airport was lifted about three hours later, with two of its four runways reopened.
Amazon.com (AMZN), which runs the flights under its Amazon Air brand, confirmed that afternoon that an Amazon Air plane operated by 21 Air had an incident while attempting to land. In a later statement the same day, spokesperson Kelly Nantel said the company was heartbroken that five people had died and would cooperate fully with any investigation.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) opened an investigation and recovered both the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder, CBS News Miami reported. NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy described the scene as "utter devastation."
The numbers
- People killed, all in a contractor's van
- 5
- People injured, including both pilots
- 5
- People in the van that was struck
- 7
- Distance the jet traveled past the paved runway
- About 1,300 feet
- Groundspeed at first touchdown, per NTSB
- 158 knots
Why CEOs should care
For operations and supply chain leaders, the crash shows that outsourcing a function does not outsource the consequences. The jet flew as Amazon Air, and Amazon was named in a wrongful-death lawsuit even though a contractor flew the plane. Companies that rely on contracted carriers, third-party logistics providers or delivery partners should check how their contracts allocate liability, what insurance limits partners carry, and whether indemnities would hold up against wrongful-death claims.
For risk officers and boards, vendor oversight is the question. Ask whether your programs review partners' safety records, pilot or driver training and equipment age, and whether contracts require partners to share incident reports and investigation findings with you. Amazon paused 21 Air a week after the crash; companies should decide in advance how they would move volume if a key partner were suspended.
For communications and legal teams, Amazon's approach is worth studying: prompt confirmation, dated public updates, and questions about the investigation directed to the NTSB. Leaders should make sure their own crisis plans cover incidents caused by partners operating under the company's brand, not just failures inside their own operations.
The bigger picture
Amazon relies on outside airlines to run its cargo network. ABC News reported that all of Amazon's cargo flights are operated by partner carriers, including Air Transport International, ABX, 21 Air, Sun Country, Hawaiian Airlines, Cargojet, ASL and Quickjet. That model lets Amazon add capacity without owning an airline, but it also ties Amazon's safety record and brand to each partner's pilots, training and maintenance.
What happened next
On September 9, 2026, the NTSB said in an investigative update that 1 minute 42 seconds before the cockpit recording ended, one pilot cautioned they were too fast. The jet's nose and right main gear touched down at 158 knots groundspeed; a pilot called for a go-around 15 seconds before the recording ended, brakes were released at 120 knots and throttles were increased to a setting consistent with go-around thrust. The NTSB said there was no indication that speed brakes or thrust reversers were deployed. The update did not state a cause. The same day, CBS News Miami and NBC News reported that the widow of Yoel Rodriguez Naranjo had filed a wrongful-death suit in Miami-Dade County circuit court against Amazon, Amazon Air Cargo, 21 Air, both pilots and others, alleging pilot error, inadequate training and use of a 32-year-old aircraft.
On September 13, Amazon said that after supporting the investigation and reviewing some of the surrounding circumstances it had decided to pause operations with 21 Air. As reported by ABC News, 21 Air said it was confident in its safety policies, procedures and training. Watch for the NTSB's preliminary report, any further lawsuits by victims' families, and whether Amazon resumes or ends its work with 21 Air.
