Crews prepare to remove Miami Air 737 from river

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (FOX 35 ORLANDO) - Zooming in with a high-powered camera lens from across the St. Johns Rivrer, you could see crews going in and out of a Miami Air 737 that's still remains in shallow water near the Naval Air Station Jacksonville.  

Federal investigators have released some preliminary findings.  The National Transportation Safety Board says the pilots made a request to change the direction of landing, shortly before the plane slid off the runway Friday evening.  

"We don't know what they were thinking or why, or why they made that choice and that will be one of the things we look to find out," said Bruce Landsberg, Vice Chairman of the NTSB.

Monday afternoon, NTSB's spokesperson said crews spent much of the day de-fueling the aircraft, removing nearly 1,200 gallons of jet fuel. That's a necessity before the plane is moved.  

Janet Zeal lives across the river from the NAS Jacksonville.  She says the weather was so bad Friday night, she and her husband had no idea of the trouble across the river.  

"It was just ferocious rain, lightening bolt on top of lightening bolt. It was right on top of the house. It was so close."  

When The News Station asked if she could imagine a aircraft landing in that weather she said, "Not in a million years. No it was such ferocious lightening. I can't imagine a plane wanting to land in that. I always thought it was a safety issue," said Zeal.  

The NTSB is now looking into the whether or not the weather could have played a role in Friday nights events.  They're also looking into issues with that air craft's left hand thruster, saying it was in operative.  That's a mechanism that helps slow the plane down.