A McDonnell Douglas MD-82 from a Dominican discount airline crashed landed at Miami International Airport yesterday, then burst into flames. Three passengers onboard were injured and the aircraft is now permanently out of service.
RED Air MD-82 Crash In Miami: What We Know So Far
RED Air flight L5203 was operating from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (SDQ) to Miami (MIA) on June 21, 2022. The 848-mile flight left SDQ on time, but a landing gear malfunction led to the aircraft scraping the south runway upon landing, then veering off it, where the plane caught fire. The MD-82 once flew for American Airlines and was 32 years old.
Passengers quickly evacuated (and of course, some took their belongings with them, with some even filming their emergency evacuation) and fire crews showed up shortly thereafter, dousing the aircraft in foam and extinguishing the fire. Billows of smoke rising from the aircraft could be seen for miles around.
Video shows frantic moments passengers make their way out of RedAir flight 203 after landing gear collapse & fire at MIA…some use emergency chute @WPLGLocal10 pic.twitter.com/LJKJtzLqnh
— Janine Stanwood (@JanineStanwood) June 22, 2022
130 passengers and 10 crewmembers were reportedly onboard. Only three. minor injuries occurred, with those passengers taken to a local hospital.
The carrier surprisingly allowed one of it mechanics, Hector Dejesus, to speak to the Miami Herald, who seemed to suggest that pilot was error was the reason for crash landing and fire.
“I suppose it was a hard landing. We do maintenance all the time. I suppose it was that. I’m in shock. I would see things like this in the air force.”
No updates have been provided on the company’s official Twitter or Facebook pages or the company website.
RED Air is a joint venture between Venezuela and the Dominican Republican that only offers service between SDQ and MIA but helps Venezuelans reach the USA by offering timed connections in cooperation with Caracas-based LASER Airlines.
The NTSB is now investigating.
NTSB is sending a team of investigators to Miami following today’s gear collapse and runway excursion of an MD-82 jetliner at Miami International Airport. Investigators will arrive on scene tomorrow.
— NTSB Newsroom (@NTSB_Newsroom) June 21, 2022
CONCLUSION
We are still piecing together the details, but it appears a RED Air MD-82 crash landed with a belly scrape at Miami then caught fire. All passengers are safe, with only three sustaining minor injuries, but the aircraft is no longer airworthy.
Thank god for the lack of casualties.
Passengers evacuation with carry-ons…. SMH.
I thought about the bag thing this morning. Obviously you wouldn’t. But then I thought in the moment it would be pretty tempting to grab my backpack with my computer, passport etc. 100% shouldn’t but can see in heat of moment why people do.
I may need both hands to help myself or assist others, which may not be evident at first. It may be convenient to grab my work stuff at my feet. However, the time it takes to cast it aside to save myself, my family or another pax may be the difference between life & death.
Some dummy is going to catch fire filming one day.
It appears it suffered a gear collapse. Not a crash landing on its belly (which would occur if the gear did not deploy). Also does not appear to be frantic evacuation – with drinks and carry ons.
The gear did deploy properly. There are videos on YouTube taken moments before touchdown that show the two mains and the nose gear out and aligned.
“We are still piecing together the details,….”
I didn’t realize you were on the NTSB investigating this crash
“RED Air is a joint venture between Venezuela and the Dominican Republican that only offers service between SDQ and MIA but helps Venezuelans reach the USA by offering timed connections in cooperation with Caracas-based LASER Airlines.”
BINGO Mathew! you got it spot on. I’m surprised that the U.S. authorities haven’t put 2 +2 together and realized this venture was put together expressly to skirt the flight sanctions imposed by the U.S. – Venezuelan owned (LASER Venezuelan Airlines) aircraft resprayed to RED Air, management and $ coming from Venezuela. the DR being a friendly govt. to the regime made this possible.
Carrier gets their mechanic to tell the press “pilot error” and “it was a hard landing” not suspicious at all