21 Air, operator of crashed Amazon cargo plane near Miami, faced prior safety complaints from former employees
Why It MattersThe allegations highlight recurring safety-culture and maintenance-oversight concerns among cargo carriers operating aging converted passenger aircraft under contract fleets.
21 Air, the North Carolina cargo airline that operated the Amazon Prime Air Boeing 767 which crashed off a Miami runway on Sunday killing five people, had previously been accused by former employees of violating safety regulations, according to legal documents and interviews obtained by CBS News. The company is controlled through an LLC by Houston Astros owner Jim Crane. Former senior staff alleged the company suppressed safety reports, pressured crews to fly without adequate rest, staffed pilots who could not communicate safely in English, and put aircraft with mechanical defects into service.
Pilot Karl Seuring, a former union president with more than 30 years of experience, filed a complaint alleging he was fired in retaliation for raising safety concerns; OSHA rejected the complaint, and his appeal led to a 2023 Department of Labor tribunal that remains pending. He testified about a April 13, 2022 flight from Newark in which a 21 Air 767 continued accelerating after takeoff beyond speeds that could damage its wing flaps, and about a spring 2022 flight from Alabama to Trinidad that allegedly suffered a pressurization problem and diverted to Puerto Rico. Former chief pilot Bruce Joseph testified in March 2024 that he had personal knowledge of employees being discouraged from logging safety concerns, and that the company's then-director of safety told him not to file reports before speaking to then-CEO Mike Mendez. Mendez denied any retaliation, said he followed safety procedures, and said Joseph left the company under bad circumstances and was fabricating claims; he declined further comment to CBS News.
Former fighter pilot Don Helmig resigned in June 2021 with a letter to Crane warning of widespread safety issues after three months at the company, attaching documents on scheduling, training, communications, emergency response and company culture, and accusing management of "paying lip service" to safety management systems. Retired pilot Tony Bless said the Miami crash "is something a lot of us ex-21 Air pilots have been anticipating for a while," citing maintenance issues, pressure from the chief pilot's office and hiring quality, and alleged the company routinely deferred maintenance on its aging converted passenger aircraft.
The five people killed were members of a cleaning crew in a van struck by the plane, according to Miami-Dade County Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz. The pilots, Captain Joseph Carroll, 55, and First Officer Jaime Felipe Silva Molina, 37, were hospitalized after the crash but have since been released. Flight tracking data showed the plane leveled out and halted its descent for about 25 seconds four miles from the runway, then descended at roughly twice the normal rate rather than executing a go-around. 21 Air said on its website it is cooperating fully with the National Transportation Safety Board investigation, and Amazon said it would defer to the NTSB on the crash and to 21 Air on the allegations, which predate its relationship with the company. The NTSB has not determined the cause of the crash, and no connection between the prior safety complaints and Sunday's incident has been established.
