Atlas Air Boeing 767-375F plane crash

The Boeing 767-300 freighter operated by Atlas Air on behalf of Amazon Prime took off from Miami, Florida, USA, for a cargo flight to Houston, Texas, USA. 3 crewmembers were onboard. The plane crashed during its approach to Houston airport. All the three people onboard were killed.

The plane had started normally its approach when radio and radar contact were lost. The wreckage has been found into the Trinity Bay, about 30 NM (50 km) southeast of Houston Airport, close to Anahuac.

The aircraft crashed in broad daylight. Weather conditions were quite good at the time of the accident, with some clouds above 3500 ft (1000 meters) and a wind blowing at 15 kts gusting at 24 kts.

The preliminary investigation report indicates that the airplane was in approach at around 6200 ft (2000 meters), with a steady indicated airspeed at about 230 knots, when the engines suddenly increased to maximum thrust. The airplane pitch increased to about 4° nose up. Then the airplane pitched nose down over the next 18 seconds to about 49° angle in response to nose-down elevator deflection, and crashed.