The cargo airline that operated the Amazon Prime Air plane which crashed in Miami, killing five people, is controlled by Houston Astros owner Jim Crane. 21 Air, a North Carolina-based all-cargo airline, was acquired by Crane in 2021. He has stated he "own[s] the controlling interest" and "don’t do deals where I don’t have control."
Crane, a Houston-based business mogul with a net worth of $2.5 billion, has expanded 21 Air's fleet from four or five freighter aircraft to 16 planes since his acquisition, according to Freight Waves. However, the airline has been flagged for safety complaints and alleged corner-cutting by former employees, some of whom expressed fears of a tragedy similar to the recent crash.
"It’s something a lot of us ex-21 Air pilots have been anticipating for a while," retired 21 Air pilot Tony Bless told CBS News, citing persistent concerns regarding "maintenance safety issues, the pressure out of the chief pilot’s office, and the quality of pilots they would hire."
On Sunday, September 6, 2026, a Boeing 767 cargo plane operated by 21 Air overshot the runway at Miami International Airport, crashing into several vehicles. The five victims were members of a cleaning crew in a van struck by the aircraft, according to Miami-Dade County Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz. The two pilots, Capt. Joseph Carroll, 55, and First Officer Jaime Felipe Silva Molina, 37, survived but were hospitalized.
"Was there fatigue involved? It could have been caused by pilot fatigue," Robert Joslin, former FAA chief scientific and technical advisor, told The Post. He added that potential causes could include an unstabilized approach, braking system or reverse thruster failures, navigational errors, or the plane being too heavy, or a combination thereof. Joslin noted that such failures would normally be prevented by redundancies, assuming safety protocols are followed.
Bruce Joseph, a former fighter pilot who reviewed safety policy for 21 Air, wrote in his resignation letter that executives were merely "paying lip service" to safety protocols and "doing exactly nothing" when presented with concerns. He testified in a Labor Department tribunal that he had "personal knowledge of people being discouraged" from recording safety issues. 21 Air did not immediately respond to requests for comment, but its website features a message from CEO Keith Winters expressing "deepest condolences" to the victims' families.