2 killed in crash of UPS cargo jet near Alabama airport

[DefiantSix]

2 killed in crash of UPS cargo jet near Alabama airport
Tribune staff and wire reports | 9:05 a.m. CDT, August 14, 2013

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama—

A large UPS cargo plane crashed early this morning near the airport in Birmingham, Alabama, killing the pilot and co-pilot, in the latest in a series of aviation accidents in the United States this year.

"I can confirm they were killed in the crash," Birmingham Mayor William Bell said of the pilot and co-pilot, who were not identified immediately. He added that there were no other casualties reported.

A fire in a sparsely populated area that broke out after the predawn crash was "under control" he said.

"It was quite a large fire and there were two to three explosions after the plane caught fire, after the crash itself," Bell said.

United Parcel Service Inc flight 1354, en route from Louisville, Kentucky, to Birmingham, crashed on approach about 5 a.m. Central Time, according to the FAA. The plane was identified as an Airbus A300. The plane had departed about an hour earlier, according to FlightAware.

<snip>

Prayers up for the families of the flight crew...

[Gina]

Gosh, I just heard about this. So sad.

[Undies]

Prayer said.  How tragic.

[Pretzel Warrior]

that is horrible. seems there are more large commercial plane crashes than usual this year.

[CG6468]

We almost never hear of a UPS or FEDEX plane going down.

[Dori]

Do they know what the cause was yet?  For some reason, my first thought was a shoulder held missile.  No clue why I thought that. 

[CG6468]

Do they know what the cause was yet?  For some reason, my first thought was a shoulder held missile.  No clue why I thought that. 

Haven't heard anything yet. The missile wouldn't surprise me, though. But no terrorist group has claimed responsibility.

[DefiantSix]

Do they know what the cause was yet?  For some reason, my first thought was a shoulder held missile.  No clue why I thought that. 

Still wide open at the moment, ma'am...

Flight Recorders Found in Deadly UPS Plane Crash

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. August 15, 2013 (AP) |By JAY REEVES Associated Press

Investigators found flight recorders on Thursday that could...

<Snip>

Basically, the article says that some of the witnesses report the aircraft on fire before it crashed, and that pieces of wreckage were dropping into folk's property along a wide area, but that there was no distress call made from the aircraft prior to the crash.

Mostly it does what newsies do when they don't have a lot to report: it provides 10 paragraphs of local residents whining about how dangerous and annoying it is to live under the approach to an airport runway.

[CG6468]

Mostly it does what newsies do when they don't have a lot to report: it provides 10 paragraphs of local residents whining about how dangerous and annoying it is to live under the approach to an airport runway.

I'd bet the airport was there before their homes were built.

[obumazombie]

One eyewitness reported that the jet flew by with little to no noise, suggesting all engines were inoperative. The most usual cause of engine failure is fuel exhaustion or fuel starvation. A post crash fire, which was also reported tends to eliminate fuel exhaustion as a cause, leaving fuel starvation. Fuel starvation can have a number of causes from contamination, fuel system malfunctions, or poor fuel management. With no reports of distress calls (as of yet) from the cockpit , it would seem the malfunction or condition went unnoticed until it was too late.
Eyewitnesses in cases like this, who have no expertise in aviation matters are notoriously unreliable.


edit -aoy

[CG6468]

Eyewitnesses rarely tell the same story of an event.

[obumazombie]

2 more reports on crash

Controls Operating Normally


TAWS Alerts; Terrain Awareness Warning System

[Ausonius]

I also thought of a terrorist attack, but #1. no Islamic terrorist group has been dancing around claiming they were responsible, and #2. not enough people died for such groups to be involved.