New details are emerging about the cargo airline operating the Amazon Prime Air plane that crashed in Miami on Sunday, killing five people — including a pilot and three others in a van inside the airport perimeter, and a person in a Toyota Corolla outside it. The airline, identified as 21 Air, has a documented history of hiring foreign pilots who struggle with air traffic control instructions and lack basic competency, according to industry professionals with first-hand knowledge of the company’s operations. The revelations have intensified scrutiny over aviation safety and hiring practices, particularly in the wake of the crash.
The crash unfolded in dramatic fashion, captured on video that appears to show the plane struggling to land. Witnesses and aviation enthusiasts immediately noted the plane’s unstable approach descent. Radar data indicates the aircraft was about 600 feet above its intended altitude at a waypoint roughly four miles from the runway, and was descending at approximately 2,000 feet per minute — more than double the safe rate. The plane’s landing gear touched down far too late, with the left-main gear off the runway for an extended period, preventing the use of brakes, spoilers, and reverse thrusters.
Amateur footage circulating online shows the plane practically dive-bombing the runway, with pilots failing to get all wheels down until they were halfway down the tarmac. Aviation experts and even casual observers agree: this was a textbook unstable approach that should have triggered a go-around, a mandatory procedure when descent rates exceed 1,000 feet per minute or when the aircraft is not stabilized by a certain altitude. The pilots instead continued, driving the plane off the runway and onto a perimeter road, where it struck the van and the Corolla, killing five people.
A Pattern of Concern: 21 Air’s Reputation in the Industry
Following the crash, attention has turned to 21 Air’s hiring practices and its oversight record. An engineer named Nick Plumb, who has been analyzing the airline’s operations, noted on social media that the airline’s pilot group has grown from around 20 in 2021 to 135 today, likely to support additional Boeing 767s shifted from Atlas Air by Amazon. Public résumés show current 21 Air pilots with prior flying careers in Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Central America, Ethiopia, and India. The airline also hires permanent residents and other work-authorized noncitizens.
Online forums like Airline Pilot Central, a popular message board for pilots, are rife with warnings about 21 Air. One user described it as “the bottom feeder of all bottom feeders,” with “clapped out rust buckets” and a 100% turnover rate. Another forum post claimed that almost every pilot who left another cargo airline, ABX, for 21 Air was asked to resign due to poor performance in training. These warnings, posted two years ago, now seem prescient.
The issue of pilot competence has also raised questions about so-called “DEI” (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) hiring practices, with some critics arguing that a focus on diversity over merit has compromised safety. The Daily Wire’s reporting, which first brought these accusations to light, has pointed to a pattern of foreign pilots who “can’t follow instructions from air traffic controllers” and who “can’t pass basic training at other airlines.”
FAA Exemption: Self-Regulation Under Scrutiny
Adding to the concerns is a May 2023 letter from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to 21 Air’s director of operations, granting the airline permission to “substitute a qualified and authorized check airman in place of an FAA inspector” for observing pilots during initial or upgrade training. This exemption, which is essentially the honor system, allows 21 Air to self-certify its pilots for takeoffs and landings without independent FAA oversight. While such exemptions are not uncommon in the industry, critics argue they are particularly dangerous for airlines with shaky safety records.
The FAA exemption is part of a broader trend of self-regulation in aviation, which some blame for previous disasters, including the Boeing 737 MAX crashes. “It’s abundantly clear that certain airlines — especially garbage airlines like 21 Air — should never have this authority,” one industry observer noted. “Now it’s very obvious that their pilots are incapable of landing the planes.”
The Pilots and the Crash: A Tragic Series of Errors
The voice on the cockpit voice recorder, using the callsign “Cargo South,” shows a pilot with a foreign accent, which has sparked further debate about language proficiency and training standards. While a foreign accent alone is not evidence of incompetence, the combination of the unstable approach, the failure to execute a go-around, and the airline’s hiring reputation paints a damning picture.
Meteorologist John Morales reported that a tailwind gust of about 30 miles per hour from the south was present at the time of landing, which is generally considered dangerous for landings. The winds had shifted suddenly from a small headwind, which may have complicated the approach. However, even with a last-minute wind shift, pilots are trained to abort if the approach becomes unstable. The fact that they continued suggests either a lack of training or a blatant disregard for standard procedures.
The crash is now under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which typically conducts lengthy inquiries into such incidents. However, as the Daily Wire notes, “We don’t need to wait for the federal government to conclude a five-year investigation to determine that the pilots caused this crash due to their manifest incompetence.”
For now, the broader question remains: how many other airlines like 21 Air are operating with similarly lax standards, and how many more warnings from pilots and industry insiders will be ignored before meaningful reform is enacted?
Source: www.dailywire.com — https://www.dailywire.com/news/pilots-saw-this-disaster-coming-no-one-listened