An investigation is underway to determine the cause of the fatal crash of an Atlas Air B767-300 cargo aircraft which had been operating on behalf of Amazon and flying from Miami to Houston.
The plane went down on Saturday (February 23) in Trinity Bay, near the city of Anahuac, Texas, with the loss of all three crewmembers.
Parent company Atlas Air Worldwide stated that it was co-operating fully with investigators from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and would provide updates as additional information became available.
The company said: “It is with great sadness that Atlas Air Worldwide has confirmed that the three people on board Atlas Air Flight 3591 did not survive the accident on Saturday in Anahuac, Texas. Atlas’ primary focus is working to provide the families of those affected with care and support. The company has established a Family Assistance Centre staffed with specialists to support the families.”
Atlas Air CEO Bill Flynn said: “Our thoughts and prayers are with all those who have been affected. This is a sad time for all of us. Our team continues to work closely with the NTSB, the FAA and local authorities on the ground in Houston. We would like to commend the efforts of all of the first responders. We sincerely appreciate their efforts and support in the investigation.”
Atlas Air is one of two cargo airlines that Amazon contracted to operate the Amazon-branded fleet, Amazon Air, along with Air Transport Services Group. Each operates 20 Amazon-branded planes for the air freight service, which was previously called Prime Air.
According to FlightGlobal, the NTSB has obtained security video showing the aircraft in a “steep nose-down attitude” prior to crashing. It quoted the agency's chair, Robert Sumwalt, during a press conference on February 24 who said: “The aircraft is in the video… at a steep descent – [a] steep nose-down attitude. I saw no evidence of the aircraft trying to turn or pull up at the last moments.”
The security video was taken from a county jail at a distance of slightly more than 1 nautical mile (1.9km) from the site where the Boeing 767 freighter crashed. It shows the aircraft for approximately five seconds, Sumwalt explained, adding that the NTSB was sending the footage to laboratories in Washington DC for analysis.
The NTSB's s top priority is to recover the flight data and cockpit voice recorders, a process that may require dredging, divers or wading “through the debris field and feeling for them”, Sumwalt noted.
He also confirmed several details about the flight, which took off from Miami at about 11:30 local time. The 767 was approaching Houston George Bush Intercontinental airport on the “standard arrival routes from the south-east.”
At about 12:30 Houston time, the aircraft was descending through 18,000ft. Shortly after, Houston air traffic controllers advised the pilots of “light-to-heavy rain ahead, and provided radar vectors around the weather”, Sumwalt continued.
Controllers then cleared Atlas flight 3591 to descend to 3,000 feet. At 12:39, while the aircraft was at about 6,000 feet and travelling at 240 knots, “communication was lost with the aircraft, as was radar contact. There was no distress call.” The aircraft had not been logged as carrying hazardous materials, he underlined.
The NTSB has recovered “remains of both wings” and landing gear components from the debris field. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has recovered two bodies and is assisting the NTSB with collection of witness statements and documentation of debris, the criminal investigation agency’s involvement in the early stages of NTSB investigations being common practice.
Video taken at the crash site by local news outlets showed debris in the bay, including a piece of material that appeared to feature a part of Amazon's logo.
In a statement, Dave Clark, Amazon's senior vice president of worldwide operations, said: Our thoughts and prayers are with the flight crew, their families and friends along with the entire team at Atlas Air during this terrible tragedy. We appreciate the first responders who worked urgently to provide support."
