UPS Plane Crash
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raceanoncr
Well-Known Member
Very sad. Condolences to family.
On feeder runs to local airport, conversing with many inbound and outbound pilots...on sleeper runs to Louisville, brushing elbows with many, it gets to be where you seem to get to know them, if not by name, by face or by company bonds.
Am very disheartened right now.
On feeder runs to local airport, conversing with many inbound and outbound pilots...on sleeper runs to Louisville, brushing elbows with many, it gets to be where you seem to get to know them, if not by name, by face or by company bonds.
Am very disheartened right now.
I just read that witness say they saw flames coming from the plane, and heard the engines struggling before the plane went down.
Whatever the reason, it is a very sad day for all UPSers who lost 2 brothers.
RIP to the lost, and my thoughts and prayers go out to the families of these 2 men.
Whatever the reason, it is a very sad day for all UPSers who lost 2 brothers.
RIP to the lost, and my thoughts and prayers go out to the families of these 2 men.
balland chain
Well-Known Member
One brother and one sister...
johnson427
Member
Rest in Peace.
FilingBluesFL
Well-Known Member
Pretty crappy way to start the day 
No mention of it at PCM this morning, found out from a co-worker that asked the center manager about it. I'm surprised we didn't get the "it was obviously something on the plane that didn't belong" speech like the last time.
Not a good trend lately, a PC driver last week, and now two pilots
Stay safe guys and gals.
No mention of it at PCM this morning, found out from a co-worker that asked the center manager about it. I'm surprised we didn't get the "it was obviously something on the plane that didn't belong" speech like the last time.
Not a good trend lately, a PC driver last week, and now two pilots
Stay safe guys and gals.
Fdx nrt 07, ups flight 6 , af447 in the Atlantic, the military 747 crash a few months back, Korea air flight 2 years ago, Asiana flight a few months ago, and this ... 7 total loss crashes in 6 years is huge for widebody aircraft, these are long haul flights where an aircraft may do 3 or 4 cycles a day (opposed to 6 or 8 for normal shorthaul pax operations) crashes are more likely to occur in take off or landing, how many total loss narrow body crashes have you heard of in the last 6 years? There's been a few, but it doesn't add up to the number of cycles they're doing . also generally wide body pilots tend to be the more senior pilots (bigger plane equals more money for most companies )
tiredofhelping
Well-Known Member
What a sad day for all of us UPSers. condolences to the families. Godspeed and RIP to the pilots. :'-(
LongTimeComing
Air Ops Pro
The crash outside of Dubai a couple of years ago was never 100% blamed on lithium batteries, but the common consensus was that they were likely the cause. Lithium batteries ARE allowed on our aircraft along with other hazmats. Furthermore, considering the thousands of pounds of lithium batteries that were on board that 747, I'd say it was a safe bet.
The jury is still out on this A300....but typical domestic flights generally only have very small amounts (i'm talking grams) of lithium batteries.
For the sake of the load planners and load supervisors, I sure as hell hope not. But beyond that, any significant discrepancy would have been noticed upon takeoff. Even if there were some unsecured containers, they would have felt them shifting around before they ever got close to Birmingham. So no, I really don't think it had anything to do with W/B.
It's a strange situation for various reasons. The most glaring, to me, is the fact that there was no distress call to the tower. If there was a fire in a cargo compartment, there are multiple sensors and alarms that would have alerted the crew to the issue, and they would have then called this in immediately. (As they did with the 747 in Dubai). The fairly abrupt decent is somewhat significant, but not outside the range of possibility. It's a little quick for normal circumstances, but again, if it was due to an issue they were having they would have called about it. Furthermore, they leveled out decently afterwards so things appeared under control.
There are 2 likely possibilities in my opinion. 1-Bird strike as they were on their final approach. A significant bird strike (or strikes) could take out an engine...or both. That could explain the fire that witnesses apparently saw before the crash. The other possibility is that they set the numbers wrong for the guidance computer (these planes can land themselves). If the plane thought it had an extra 500 feet of altitude that actually wasn't there, for instance. This could explain why they may have never had a distress call. When they realized something was wrong, they would have tried to fix the problem ASAP rather than take a moment to get on the radio.
We will find out in time, but either way, it's a tragic and sobering day for the air team and all UPSers.
Edit: Oh, and thank you cheryl for deleting that disgusting post by TOS.
MrFedEx
Engorged Member
Interesting. Are you saying that it was a possible CAT II or CAT III approach? I don't know what the weather was like other than "rain and clouds", but you bring up some good points. I've been on CAT II and III landings and any loss in power would be a big problem, although the pilots have the throttles in hand and a definite decision height. The lack of a "mayday" is really odd, and might indicate a very sudden problem as you indicated.
Whatever the cause, it's a tremendous loss. I hope they determine the cause quickly in order to prevent another accident.
Ms.PacMan
Well-Known Member
Very sad.
These threads explain quite a lot about what possibly might have happened. They suspect no mayday call because pilots are trained to aviate, navigate, communicate..... in that order.
UPS A300 Crash In Birmingham, AL. - BHM Civil Aviation Forum | Airliners.net
UPS A300 Crash In Birmingham, AL. - BHM Part 2 Civil Aviation Forum | Airliners.net
These threads explain quite a lot about what possibly might have happened. They suspect no mayday call because pilots are trained to aviate, navigate, communicate..... in that order.
UPS A300 Crash In Birmingham, AL. - BHM Civil Aviation Forum | Airliners.net
UPS A300 Crash In Birmingham, AL. - BHM Part 2 Civil Aviation Forum | Airliners.net
DriveInDriveOut
Inordinately Right
This is a great source thanks. It does explain why there was no mayday, that was really puzzling me but it makes sense now. There is a lot of jargon I don't understand, but it seems most people seem to agree the plane shouldn't have been landing on that particular runway (the other was closed for repairs). Also a lot of people are mentioning optical illusions(the black hole illusion, pan am flight 217 was mentioned).
supposedly, they used this runway to land and taxi to the end of the runway for easier access to unload.
Not an issue in a situation with light winds.
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