Reports of an A330F crashed in Birmingham, Alabama.

 

Flight UPS 1354

 

edit - Corrected the aircraft type

CNN) -- A UPS cargo plane crashed Wednesday morning on approach to a Birmingham, Alabama, airport, according to an FAA spokeswoman.

It was unclear whether anyone was injured in the crash of the A300 aircraft, which happened around 4:45 a.m. (5:45 a.m. ET) in an open field outside the fence of Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport, according to Toni Bast of the Birmingham Airport Authority.

The aircraft was headed to Birmingham from Louisville, Kentucky, FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said.

The National Transportation Safety Board will send a quick-response "go team" of investigators to the site, the agency said.

 

http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/14/us/alabama-cargo-plane-crash/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

Will probably want to change the title. Hope the flight crew are safe

Hopefully all of the crew survived and no one was injured on the ground.

Update, NOT an A330F but an A300-600F....saw a photo, it hit a small rise in terrain well short of the runway.

 

2 crew apparently did not survive

 

http://avherald.com/h?article=466d969f&opt=0

A300*

Wow....this is horrible. It has been a rough couple months for aviation. Well wishes to the crews family.

I find this intriguing, UPS pilots are usually of the highest caliber especially for their larger freightliners, and Airbus has a pretty solid reputation on the A300F series for being a well built aircraft.... wonder what went on in the flight deck....

Weather did not appear to be too harsh, however, it is reported the LOC/DME for the active runway was U/S

The approach was apparantly to runway 18 which is a LOC only approach.   Not sure why it didn't try for runway 24 with the ILS.   I am very familiar with the area. 

There's been construction going on there for awhile. I think 24 was localizer only. The only fully working ILS would be 6 I believe.

I live about 45 min from KBHM and have landed there a few times no real obstuctions on the approach besides the interstate. One report said people heard the engines shutting down. They had a short trip which means small amount of fuel I wonder if fuel starvation was the cause.

I live about 45 min from KBHM and have landed there a few times no real obstuctions on the approach besides the interstate. One report said people heard the engines shutting down. They had a short trip which means small amount of fuel I wonder if fuel starvation was the cause.

 

The video on the news is showing a huge fireball, which I suspect is burning fuel.  One news report said they came down on a road which is parallel to the runway.  Could they have mistaken the road for the runway?

I would not think that they would have mistaken the road for a runway.    A lot of land has been cleared northeast of the airport for noise abatement.   He came in over Tarrant (suburb of Birmingham), which is atypical.   Normally, he would come in over the Roebuck area in Birmingham, paralleling Alabama Highway 75 and U.S. 11.     Landing on runway 18 is very unusual.  

5:00 am and 6:00 am WX reports were 700 broken with 6 miles vis in light rain and mist.