The captain of the Amazon cargo plane involved in a deadly crash had an impressive aviation background, including years as a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter pilot and thousands of hours in the air.
Joseph Carroll, 55, was one of the two crew members aboard the Boeing 767 when it crashed at Miami International Airport on Sunday, killing five people and injuring others on the ground. Both pilots survived the crash and were later released from the hospital.
Carroll joined the U.S. Army in 1997 as an air traffic controller before becoming a UH-60 Black Hawk pilot. He later became an instructor, training other soldiers for overseas combat missions. He also served as an aviation safety officer before leaving the military after 15 years.
After his military career, Carroll continued working in aviation. He held a leadership position at a drone company before becoming a commercial airline pilot in 2018. He worked for several airlines and eventually became a captain for 21Air, which operated the Amazon flight.
Despite his extensive experience, investigators are now examining what happened during the final moments of the flight.
New flight data showed the plane touched down, released its brakes and then increased thrust, apparently consistent with an attempted go-around. The crew then reduced the throttles and reapplied the brakes only seconds later.
An experienced Boeing 767 pilot told that the aircraft appeared to have landed too far down the runway and that the crew may have realized too late that there was not enough runway remaining.
The NTSB is continuing its investigation, and officials have not yet determined which pilot was flying at the time of the crash or exactly what caused the disaster.