Amazon cargo plane pilots are pictured after their aircraft killed five people at Miami airport
Developing story first seen 2 hours ago
The two pilots of the Amazon-operated Boeing 767 cargo jet that overran the runway at Miami International Airport have now been publicly identified and pictured, having both been released from hospital after Sunday's crash. Joseph Carroll, 55, and Jaime Filipe Silva Molina, 37, were at the controls when the aircraft failed to stop, ploughing into a van, through a fence and onto a nearby street, where it destroyed an SUV and killed five people. Authorities have also newly named the five victims, while investigators continue to probe why the plane overran the runway.
The five killed, all employees of contract cleaning firm Professional Ocean Service Corp who were travelling in a van, were named by the Miami-Dade Sheriff as Rolando Aleman, 55, Yoel Rodriguez Naranjo, 53, Julio C Pineda, 75, Carlos Acosta Fajardo, 53, and Javierkys Reyes Quevedo, 47; three further people remain hospitalised, two in critical condition. The NTSB said the jet, arriving from San Juan on its third flight of the day, overshot the runway by roughly 1,300ft before striking the van and a second vehicle, and a preliminary FAA report noted the airport lacks the Engineered Materials Arresting System fitted at over 120 US airports to help halt overrunning aircraft. A witness said one pilot told him afterwards "my career is over", and emergency dispatch audio captured responders confirming the aircraft had crossed a nearby avenue and struck a truck.
- Pilots Joseph Carroll and Jaime Filipe Silva Molina publicly identified, released from hospital
- Five victims named; three others remain hospitalised, two critically
- Miami airport lacks runway safety system now under scrutiny after crash
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Amazon Prime Air, the retailer's cargo airline division, operates flights using contracted carriers, and one of its Boeing 767 freighters was landing at Miami International Airport on Sunday when it failed to stop on the runway. The aircraft, arriving from San Juan in Puerto Rico, ran off the end of the runway, through airport perimeter fencing and onto a public road, where it struck vehicles including a van carrying contract cleaning workers.
Five people who were on the ground were killed in the crash, while both pilots and several others were injured; the pilots have since been released from hospital. The National Transportation Safety Board, the US agency that investigates civil aviation accidents, is examining what caused the plane to overrun the runway.
The case has drawn attention partly because Miami International Airport does not have a specific type of crushable safety surface designed to stop planes that overshoot runways, a feature used at many other major US airports. The incident has raised questions about airport safety infrastructure as well as the actions of the flight crew in the moments before the crash.
Full account
Two pilots have been publicly identified for the first time after the Amazon-operated cargo aircraft they were flying overran a runway at Miami International Airport on Sunday, killing five people on the ground. The Boeing 767, operating as Amazon Air Flight 7598, was arriving from San Juan, Puerto Rico, on its third journey of the day when it failed to stop on landing. Named locally as Joseph Carroll, 55, and Jaime Filipe Silva Molina, 37, the pilots were treated in hospital and have since been discharged. One witness, Abraham Altamar, told CBS News that one of the pilots approached him after the crash and said his career was over.
Miami-Dade Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz confirmed the names of the five people who died: Rolando Aleman (also reported as Rolando Aleman Leon), 55; Yoel Rodriguez Naranjo, 53; Julio C Pineda, 75; Carlos Acosta Fajardo, 53; and Javierkys Reyes Quevedo, 47. All five were reportedly employees of a contract airline cleaning firm and were travelling in a van at the time. A further three people remain in hospital, two of them, named as Eugenio Corredor, 79, and Ridoel Averhoff Diaz, 32, in a critical condition, with a third, Roosevelt Sebastian Perdomo Torres, 36, said to be stable. Accounts differ slightly on how the injured were distributed between the van and the surrounding area, though officials agree the casualties were all connected to the vehicles struck by the plane.
Investigators have begun piecing together how the aircraft came to leave the runway. Jennifer Homendy, chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, said the jet overshot the paved surface by more than 1,300 feet, first striking a van before continuing through the airport perimeter fence and into a public road, where it collided with at least one more vehicle, reported as a Toyota Corolla Cross. Some accounts describe the aircraft also careering into an area used to store Tesla robotaxis before coming to rest. Attention has also turned to why the runway lacked additional safety infrastructure: a preliminary review noted that Miami International Airport does not have an Engineered Materials Arresting System, a crushable-surface technology designed to help halt overrunning aircraft that has been fitted at more than 120 airports across the United States.
The victims' employer, understood to be a contractor providing cleaning services to airlines, described its staff as family and offered condolences to those affected, while stressing its focus on supporting employees and their relatives through the aftermath. Miami-Dade homicide detectives are now investigating the deaths alongside the federal inquiry into the crash's cause. Coverage of the incident has varied in focus: some reports have concentrated on humanising the pilots and detailing the corporate response, while others have offered a more technical, blow-by-blow account of the aircraft's path from the runway through to its final resting point, including precise distances and the vehicles involved.
Where outlets differ
One account (drawing on the Miami Herald) foregrounds the pilots' identities, photographs and a witness's quote about a pilot saying his career was over, plus a statement from the cleaning company that employed the victims; the other (Fox News) gives more precise technical detail on the crash sequence, including the exact overrun distance (over 1,300 feet), specific vehicle makes and models, and mentions of a Tesla robotaxi storage area.
Only one source reports the absence of the Engineered Materials Arresting System (EMAS) at Miami International Airport as a contributing safety factor under FAA review.
There is a minor discrepancy in the victims' names — one source lists 'Rolando Aleman', the other 'Rolando Aleman Leon' — and slight inconsistency over how many of the injured were inside the van versus struck on the ground.
Only the Fox News-sourced account notes that Miami-Dade homicide detectives are formally investigating the deaths.
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