NTSB

Investigation Underway Into Plane's Fiery Landing at MIA

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the incident

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One day after Red Air flight 203 caught fire after landing at Miami International Airport, the focus is now on the investigation and what caused the landing gear to ultimately collapse.

Aviation expert Jay Rollins knows this type of aircraft well. He has flown it before and has years of experience as a naval aviator and 25 years experience as a pilot with American Airlines.

"The very fact that they touched down, I think that this occurred very late either right on touchdown or just prior," Rollins said.

A plane carrying 140 people caught fire while landing at Miami International Airport, as NBC 6's Cristian Benavides reports.

We asked him what the NTSB will be looking for as it conducts its investigation.

"They will be interviewing the pilots very carefully and they definitely want the black boxes, both the voice recorders but especially the one that indicates the position of the landing, what the speeds were on touch down, and mostly importantly, the G-force as the aircraft touched down," he said.

While the black boxes should help shed light on what happened, Rollins says he would also want to know whether weather played a role. 

"Another possibility is that there was a crosswind," Rollins said. "I'm very interested to know what the winds were that day because when you have a crosswind, you will sometimes make an adjustment so the aircraft touches down on one side, and if you don't do that smoothly or gently you could break that landing gear."

Red Air is a Dominican Republic airline that started its commercial operations with passengers less than a year ago in November 2021, according to its website.

Red Air was formed by a Venezuelan airline through a joint venture with a Dominican corporation.

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