A McDonnell-Douglas MD-82 belonging to newish airline Red Air crash-landed this week at Miami International Airport. All 140 passengers and crew evacuated safely with only minor injuries reported, but a fire ensued, and the aircraft is a total loss.
Reports suggest Red Air flight 203 from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic touched down normally, if perhaps a little long, on Miami’s runway 9 and then experienced an anomaly that affected the landing gear. One video clearly shows the Mad Dog dragging its left wingtip down the runway, above what appears to be a collapsed left-main gear. It then skids off to the left, sliding out in the grass and coming to rest on its belly, with none of the landing gear making it through the incident.
The rapid responses of the Miami airport Operations vehicles and Crash-Fire-Rescue trucks are commendable. One video shows Flight 203 sliding to a stop, with an Operations truck arriving planeside only 50 seconds later, and the first fire truck on scene puts water onto the burning wreckage only 1 minute, 48 seconds after the plane stopped moving.
Passengers began first evacuating from the left-side over wing exits exactly 10 seconds after the airplane stopped, although it appears those who opened the left-rear cabin door took a moment of hesitation before jumping in front of the engine which, presumably, was still spooling down. Another video shot by a passenger shows the evacuation from the front of the plane, with the passenger exclaiming, “Wooo!” as he jumps down an escape slide after rolling his suitcase to the front-left cabin door, while filming, with a water bottle in hand. Upon further review of the video, we are beginning to believe the man had three arms.
Other passengers can be seen with roller suitcases and belongings as they gather on the ramp near the wreckage. While passengers are briefed before each flight to leave belongings on board during an evacuation, it seems difficult for some when the moment comes.
@flywithnosson #Red air plane crash#Miami ⬠original sound – Nosson Yoffe
Santo Domingo-based startup airline Red Air operates four DC-9 derivative aircraft: one MD-81 and three MD-82 models. The incident aircraft, reportedly registered as HI1064, was originally delivered to American Airlines at the end of 1990 and transferred from Venezuelan airline Lazer Air to Red Air in June of 2021.
The NTSB is investigating the mishap.
