KENDALL, Fla. — A flight instructor who trained the first officer of the Amazon cargo plane that crashed at Miami International Airport on Sunday says its pilot was a standout student who later became a safety-focused instructor himself.
Kamal Patel, a pilot with 30 years of experience who also owns and operates a flight school, spoke exclusively with Local 10 on Thursday about Jaime Felipe Silva Molina, who goes by Felipe.
Patel said Molina was a very good student at the Pilot Training Center in Miami before eventually becoming a flight instructor there and training other pilots.
“As an instructor, he had a very good pass rate with his students and always very good feedback,” he said. “I remember him being very safety-conscious.”
Molina was serving as a first officer aboard the Amazon cargo plane when it crashed at Miami International Airport.
The captain of the flight has been identified as 55-year-old Joseph Carroll.
Investigators said one of the pilots was heard warning that the plane was traveling too fast. One pilot then called for a “go around,” an attempt to lift the aircraft back into the air for another landing.
It remains unclear which pilot made each statement.
Asked what might have happened in the cockpit if Molina was the pilot who called for the go-around, Patel said Molina’s focus on safety would have made the decision unsurprising.
“Felipe was very aware of safety and understanding of it if it was him that said the go around it would not surprise me at all,” Patel said.
Local 10 also examined Molina’s work history.
After graduating from the Pilot Training Center and later teaching there, Molina worked for several airlines.
Most recently, he was a first officer with 21 Air, where he worked for about a year and eight months. Before that, he was a first officer with World Atlantic Airlines. He also had a short stint with SkyWest Airlines, working there for about two months as a first officer.
Molina spent two years as a full-time flight instructor at the Pilot Training Center after graduating from the school.
He also earned an associate degree from Miami Dade College, focusing on its airline pilot studies program.
Patel was not in the cockpit during the fatal flight, but he offered insight into the crew dynamics that could have been at play.
Asked whether a first officer has to defer to the captain when making a decision such as a go-around, Patel said modern crew resource management training emphasizes teamwork.
“Most modern CRM training would say the crew works as a team if the FO says go around the captain should go around,” Patel said.
Asked whether there could ever be a situation in which a first officer might take control of the aircraft, Patel said he did not believe that would be the safest course of action.
“I don’t think that would be the safest route of action,” he added.
Patel said the National Transportation Safety Board’s investigation should provide more answers about what happened inside the cockpit.
Ultimately, he said the captain makes the final call both in the air and on the ground.
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