Air traffic controller failed to warn pilots of strong winds before fatal Amazon plane crash, NTSB says

An air traffic controller failed to alert the pilots on board the Amazon cargo plane that crashed last month about strong tail winds before it landed, according to a preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board. 

NTSB releases preliminary report on Amazon plane crash

Dig deeper:

Just minutes before clearing the plane to land, an air traffic controller had provided a wind advisory to a different flight, noting gusts of up to 25 mph from the south.

But the controller "did not issue information about the wind" to the pilots of the Amazon cargo plane, the report said on Thursday. 

According to federal regulations, "both wind direction and velocity were required to be stated when authorizing use of a runway when a tail wind component exists," the NTSB report said.

Amazon cargo jet crash

The backstory:

The aircraft had flown from Cincinnati to Miami and then to San Juan, Puerto Rico. It was returning to Miami on Sept. 6 when it overshot the runway and plowed across a road used by warehouse workers and other businesses that surround the airport.

Aside from the five who died, three people were critically injured and two others were hospitalized with less severe injuries, officials said.

After the crash, Amazon suspended its partnership with 21 Air, which operated the plane. The North Carolina carrier had flown packages for Amazon since 2024. The Boeing 767 that crashed was 32 years old and originally built to carry passengers. It was converted to a cargo plane in June 2016, the preliminary NTSB report said.