Wife of man killed in Amazon cargo plane crash at Miami International Airport files lawsuit
Yaraisi Santiso Morejon, whose husband was killed when an Amazon cargo plane overran a runway at Miami International Airport, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Amazon, the plane's operators and the two pilots.
Yoel Rodriguez Naranjo, 53, died on Sept. 6, when Amazon Air Flight 7598 landed and then overran Runway 30 at Miami International Airport, striking vehicles on and near airport property.
Naranjo was driving a van that was hit in the crash. In total, five people were killed in the incident and five others were injured.
The lawsuit names Amazon, Inc. and Amazon Air Cargo, 21 Air LLC, and related companies involved in operating the plane, the aircraft's lessors, and pilots Joseph Carroll and Jaime Felipe Silva Molina.
The suit claims multiple failures led to the crash, including operational failures and issues with pilot operations. Morgan said the plane overshot its landing spot by more than 1,000 feet and was traveling well above the appropriate landing speed.
"We allege that this was not a freak accident, but a foreseeable and preventable disaster caused by negligence," Morgan & Morgan attorney Mike Morgan said in a news release. "What we've already uncovered points to a series of failures by the people flying the plane, the companies that put it in the air and the systems that were supposed to prevent this exact kind of tragedy."
"The landing spot of this runway was overshot by more than 1000 feet, and the speed that they were approaching at was grossly over the speed that they should have been attempting a landing at," Morgan said.
The suit also claims safety concerns with the plane were raised before the flight but were ignored, according to the attorneys.
It reads, in part:
"This disaster was not an unavoidable accident. It was the foreseeable and preventable result of multiple, concurrent failures: pilot error by defendants Joseph Carroll and Jaime Felipe Silva Molina in attempting a high-speed, tailwind-affected landing while failing to execute a mandatory go-around; a systemic failure by defendants Amazon and 21 Air to ensure adequate pilot training, fitness, and sound aeronautical decision-making; and the deployment of a 32-year-old aircraft by all pertinent defendants whose braking, thrust reverser, and spoiler systems are under active NTSB investigation."
"Specifically, before the subject crash, former 21 Air employees had raised safety complaints and alleged that 21 Air was engaged in a culture of substandard practices that fell well below the prevailing standard of care of a reasonable air carrier. This included reports that 21 Air had a practice of suppressing safety reports, pushing crew to fly without proper rest, staffing pilots who could not communicate safety in English, and placing planes that were not airworthy into the sky despite knowledge of ongoing problems with such planes."
Morgan & Morgan founder John Morgan said the firm intends to pursue accountability from everyone involved.
"No one should lose their loved one this way, and the filing of this lawsuit is just the beginning of our fight to secure justice and accountability for Mr. Naranjo's death," Morgan said in the news release. "Everyone who played a role in this horrific crash will be held accountable."
The case was filed in the Circuit Court of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit in Miami-Dade County.
Amazon provided a statement in response to a request for comment from CBS News Miami.
"Our deepest sympathies remain with the families, loved ones, and all those affected by this devastating tragedy. The NTSB is on the ground at Miami International Airport conducting its investigation. We'll fully cooperate with them and support any other investigating authorities," the company said in a statement.
NTSB set to interview pilots of crashed Amazon cargo plane before releasing transcript of cockpit voice recorder
Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board were expected to interview the pilots of the Amazon cargo plane on Wednesday.
That announcement was made during a Tuesday night news conference before the NTSB released a new video showing investigators inspecting the crashed plane just outside of Miami International Airport.
Both the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder were recovered from the crash site, NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy had previously disclosed.
"The cockpit voice recorder contained more than two hours of good quality audio," Homendy said Tuesday, adding that the flight data recorder had about 55 hours of data.
Homendy said investigators will wait until after they interview the pilots Wednesday to publicly release the readout of the cockpit voice recorder.