On Tuesday, June 21, Red Air Flight 203 (L5203/REA203), registration (HI1064); caught fire after making a crash landing at Miami International Airport. The aircraft is a McDonnell Douglas MD-82.
The Incident of Red Air 203
The aircraft departed Santo Domingo airport (ICAO: MDSD) at 15:00 and crash-landed at Miami Airport (ICAO: KMIA) after 2h of flight time.
The aircraft caught fire upon landing, and the crew initiated an emergency evacuation. Miami firefighters arrived at the scene and controlled the fire and mitigated fuel spillage.
Luckily, according to Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Department, no one died and all 126 occupants survived including 11 crew. Three people were hospitalized but with minor injuries.
NTSB investigators are on their way to Miami airport to start their investigation of the incident. This news is from the official NTSB Twitter account: “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.”
The Cause of Red Air 203 Crash landing
At this moment, things are unclear and it’s too early to conclude anything; but preliminary observations and witness accounts seem to lead to the assumption that the cause of the Red Air Flight crash landing is a gear collapse.
More exactly, it seems to be a gear collapse which lead the aircraft to skid on the runway. This skidding caused the aircraft to catch fire and skid off the runway.
Many Video footages of the Red Air 203 emerged showing the horrifying scenes of the crash landing.
I will make sure to write an update on this incident when up-to-date information is available.
Red Air Airlines Information Card
Red Air is a low-cost air transport company based in the Dominican Republic. It only started operation last year in November 2021 (7 Months ago).
The airline operates a total fleet of 4 McDonnell Douglas MD-80s (MD-81 & MD-82) with an average age of 31 years but their current fleet after this incident would drop down to 3 MD-80.
The airline only route is Santo Domingo airport (ICAO: MDSD) to Miami Airport (ICAO: KMIA) and back.
