Cleaning crew killed in Miami cargo jet crash was wrapping up shift at hard, demanding job

Five members of a crew killed when an Amazon cargo jet smashed into their van were wrapping up their eight-hour shift cleaning planes at the Miami airport when they were struck, lawyers for one of the victims said on Wednesday.

The deadly crash has drawn attention to a workforce that largely operates out of sight of most travelers, tidying airplane cabins for often low pay while sometimes working in hot and dangerous conditions. But the job is also critical to keeping the airline industry moving 24 hours a day.

“This is certainly very tragic. You would not think riding in a van to clean an airplane, that this would happen,” National Transportation Safety Board Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy said.

Two other workers in the van were in the hospital days after their Econoline van was crushed by the speeding jet that investigators said appeared to be reconsidering a landing Sunday before running out of runway.

Hard-working family men were among the victims

Yoel Rodriguez Naranjo, 53, came to the U.S. from Cuba in 2011 and worked multiple jobs for his family over the past 14 years, said attorney Jorge Garcia, who is a friend of Naranjo’s family and filed a wrongful-death lawsuit on their behalf against Amazon, 21 Air, which operated the plane, and the pilots.

Naranjo was driving the van and working a 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. shift for Professional Ocean Service Corp. His wife started frantically texting him when he didn’t arrive home on time. After seeing her texts weren’t being read, she found a news story about the crash, Garcia said.

Naranjo was a “very hardworking man, very loved by his wife, very loved by his son, and as you can imagine what they’ve gone through is really unimaginable,” Garcia said at a news conference.

Julio C. Pineda also came to the U.S. from Cuba. The 75-year-old was known as “El mago” — “The Magician” — because he was always doing magic tricks, his neighbors told NBC News.

He was calm, helpful, and there was always music and fun when his children came over, they said.

“He was someone who was always laughing and telling stories,” Alberto Leandro said. “You’d see him and he’d crack a joke in the elevator.”

Killed along with Naranjo and Pineda were Rolando Aleman Leon, 55; Carlos Acosta Fajardo, 53; and Javierkys Reyes Quevedo, 47.

Ridoel Averhoff Diaz, 32, and Roosevelt Sebastian Perdomo Torres, 36, remained in the hospital in critical condition Tuesday, the sheriff’s office said.

Cleaning planes is a demanding and intense job

Professional Ocean Service Corp. has been cleaning planes at the Miami International Airport for at least 15 years.

“Our employees are far more than the people who work beside us each day, they are family, and they are deeply loved,” the company said in a statement after the crash.

The company cleans and disinfects the inside and outside of both private and commercial jets. Its workers can clean and replace carpet and paint cabins too, according to photos from its website.

Cleaning an airplane is physically demanding work done under intense time pressure, experts say. Crews lug mops, brooms and other supplies up and down aircraft stairs, reach into seat backs and overhead bins, scrub bathrooms and wipe down surfaces.

“They’re in a van. They get rushed to the airplane and are standing by on the jetway when the airplane arrives. The minute the passengers are off, their foreman is rushing them to get into that airplane to grab every piece of trash, do a wipe down of the bathrooms and countertops, and get the heck out of there,” said Soma Priddle, a retired commercial airline captain and attorney who represents pilots and other aviation workers.

Workers deal with harsh chemicals and large aircraft

Inside a plane, workers can be exposed to harsh cleaners as well as bodily fluids and other contaminants left by passengers. Outside the plane there is hydraulic fluid, jet fuel and de-icing fluids, she said.

And they are working around some of the most powerful equipment on an airport ramp. At any given moment, workers can be alongside aircraft weighing hundreds of thousands of pounds, moving across busy tarmacs and working in extreme heat before climbing into airplane bellies that can be even hotter, said Manny Pastreich, president of 32BJ Service Employees International Union, which represents more than 20,000 airport workers along the East Coast.

“It’s dynamic and dangerous work,” Pastreich said.

Workers often have little experience and are typically paid close to minimum wage with few or no benefits, Pastreich said. High turnover means crews are frequently made up of newer workers, which can add another layer of risk in an already demanding environment.

“It’s an incredibly hard job and not as well compensated as it should be,” said Pastreich, whose union did not represent the workers killed in Miami.

The tight turnaround times can add to the pressure. Cleaning contracts are competitive, Priddle said, and companies that cannot consistently get planes cleaned and ready on time risk losing their business.

“It’s a god-awful job,” Priddle said. “They work long hours. They’re just pushed and pushed and pushed.”