Miami 767 freighter overrun crew not given wind data, NTSB preliminary finds

Pilots of a Boeing 767-300 freighter that overran a runway at Miami were not given crosswind or tailwind information when they were cleared to land, according to preliminary information from the National Transportation Safety Board.

Weather data at the time of the 6 September accident showed wind from 190° at 17kt, gusting to 26kt. For runway 30, that means a crosswind component of 16-24kt and a tailwind component of roughly 6-9kt. Under US Federal Aviation Administration rules, a tailwind component requires that wind direction and velocity be passed to the crew when runway use is authorised. The local controller did not issue wind information with the landing clearance, the inquiry states. Gusting wind from 190° had been relayed to another flight four minutes earlier, but the 767 crew was not on that radio frequency at the time.

Investigators have not reached any conclusions on whether the tailwind contributed to the accident sequence.

The board did disclose that the aircraft was high on its approach. Flight-data recorder information shows it was still descending at 2,000ft/min about 25 seconds before touchdown, at a height of 500ft, and that the crew received two sink rate alerts around that point. The descent rate slowed to 1,000ft/min about 10 seconds before touchdown, roughly where the aircraft crossed the runway threshold at about 100ft. The captain then called for the flaps to move from 20° to 30°. That call came so late that the flaps had not reached full deployment when the main landing gear first touched the runway. The jet was 3,750ft past the threshold at touchdown, and the inquiry indicates an attempted go-around was made.

The investigation is ongoing.