Plane Crash Company 21 Air Had Safety Complaints Before Miami Accident

A cargo plane crashed near Miami's runway on Sunday, killing five people and injuring two pilots. The plane was a Boeing 767 that carried Amazon packages. It was operated by a company called 21 Air, based in North Carolina. Now, records and interviews show that former employees had warned about safety problems at the company long before the crash.

The five people who died were members of a cleaning crew riding in a van that the plane hit. The two pilots, Captain Joseph Carroll, 55, and First Officer Jaime Felipe Silva Molina, 37, survived and were later released from the hospital. Flight data showed that about four miles from the runway, the plane stopped descending for around 25 seconds. It then came down much too fast — about twice the normal rate — instead of pulling up and trying to land again.

Several former 21 Air pilots had filed legal complaints saying the company had serious safety problems. Pilot Karl Seuring, who has more than 30 years of flying experience, said he was fired after raising safety concerns. He filed a complaint with a government agency called OSHA, and the case went to a federal hearing in 2023. That case is still being decided by a judge.

Seuring and other former pilots said managers tried to hide safety reports and keep pilots from logging problems. They also said pilots were pushed to fly without enough rest between flights and that some planes had mechanical issues. Seuring said that when he questioned whether safety forms were filled out honestly, he was told to 'just sign it.'

Former 21 Air chief pilot Bruce Joseph also testified at the federal hearing. He said people were discouraged from entering safety concerns into the company's computer system. He claimed the company's director of safety told him not to file anything without first talking to the then-CEO, Mike Mendez. Joseph told the judge, 'If I put it in, I would have the wrath of Mike.'

Mendez denied that he ever told anyone to hide safety issues. He said his job was 'to make sure we run a safe airline, not to hurt people and not to hide anything.' He also said he believed Joseph was making up harmful claims because he had been fired. Mendez did not give further comment when contacted by CBS News.

Retired pilot Tony Bless said Sunday's crash did not surprise him. 'It's something a lot of us ex-21 Air pilots have been anticipating for a while,' he said. He pointed to problems with maintenance, pressure from managers, and the skill level of some hired pilots. Bless said the company regularly put off fixing planes and that things often broke on their older aircraft.

Pilot Seuring described one scary flight in April 2022 when a mechanical problem caused the plane to keep speeding up too fast after takeoff from New Jersey. The plane went so fast it could have damaged its wing flaps. Seuring said there was no discussion or safety review after the incident. 'We had no debrief. No discussion. Assume it didn't happen,' he told the judge.

Another former pilot, Don Helmig, had been a fighter pilot before working at 21 Air. He quit the company in June 2021 and sent an email to 21 Air's majority owner, Jim Crane, who also owns the Houston Astros baseball team. In the email, Helmig warned that managers wanted him to 'say nothing' about safety problems. He attached seven documents listing serious concerns about training, communication, and safety culture at the company.

The NTSB has not yet determined what caused the crash. Investigators are reviewing the plane's black box, which records cockpit sounds and tracks any mechanical failures. Mary Schiavo, a former government inspector, said the black box could reveal what really happened in the cockpit. She asked, 'What was going on in that cockpit — fighting turbulence and wind shifts, or a lack of crew teamwork?'