The Safety Board's full report is available at http://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Pages/aviation.aspx. The Aircraft Accident Report number is NTSB/AAR-14/02. On August 14, 2013, about 0447 central daylight time (CDT), United Parcel Service (UPS) flight 1354, an Airbus A300-600, N155UP, crashed short of runway 18 during a localizer nonprecision approach to runway 18 at Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport (BHM), Birmingham, Alabama. The captain and first officer were fatally injured, and the airplane was destroyed by impact forces and postcrash fire. The nonscheduled cargo flight was operating under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 121 on an instrument flight rules flight plan, and dark night visual flight rules conditions prevailed at the airport; variable instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) with a variable ceiling were present north of the airport on the approach course at the time of the accident. The flight originated from Louisville International Airport-Standiford Field (SDF), Louisville, Kentucky, about 0503 eastern daylight time (EDT).
the flight crew's continuation of an unstabilized approach and their failure to monitor the aircraft's altitude during the approach, which led to an inadvertent descent below the minimum approach altitude and subsequently into terrain. Contributing to the accident were (1) the flight crew's failure to properly configure and verify the flight management computer for the profile approach; (2) the captain's failure to communicate his intentions to the first officer once it became apparent the vertical profile was not captured; (3) the flight crew's expectation that they would break out of the clouds at 1,000 feet above ground level due to incomplete weather information; (4) the first officer's failure to make the required minimums callouts; (5) the captain's performance deficiencies likely due to factors including, but not limited to, fatigue, distraction, or confusion, consistent with performance deficiencies exhibited during training; and (6) the first officer's fatigue due to acute sleep loss resulting from her ineffective off-duty time management and circadian factors.
| Time | Event | Page |
|---|---|---|
| 04:42:35 CDT | About 5 minutes before the end of the recording: pressure altitude about 10,000 ft, DME 20.6 NM, computed airspeed about 248 knots, speed brake handle fully extended | 11 |
| 04:42:55 CDT | Landing gear discretes indicated all three gear down and locked | 11 |
| 04:44:22 CDT | Lateral AFCS mode changed to localizer track mode | 11 |
| 04:44:41 CDT | Speed brake handle retracted, then moved periodically between retracted and full extension over the next 60 seconds; slats/flaps lever moved from detent 1 (slats/flaps up) to detent 2 (slats 15/flaps 0) | 11 |
| 04:45:12 CDT | Longitudinal AFCS mode changed to altitude mode; pressure altitude about 2,500 ft, DME about 9 NM, computed airspeed about 213 knots; selected airspeed changed from 170 to 160 knots | 11 |
| 04:45:15 CDT | Slats/flaps lever moved to detent 3 (slats 15/flaps 15) | 11 |
| 04:45:32 CDT | Lateral AFCS mode changed to NAV, to heading at 04:45:34, to localizer capture at 04:45:38, and about 9 seconds later back to localizer track where it remained | 11 |
| 04:45:42 CDT | Slats/flaps lever moved to detent 4 (slats 15/flaps 20) | 11 |
| 04:45:45 CDT | Speed brake handle returned to 0 and remained there; ground spoilers armed at 04:45:47 | 12 |
| 04:45:48 CDT | Selected airspeed changed to 137 knots and remained there | 12 |
| 04:45:56 CDT | Slats/flaps lever moved to detent 5 (slats 30/flaps 40) | 12 |
| 04:46:01 CDT | Longitudinal AFCS mode changed to vertical speed mode; selected vertical speed set to about -700 fpm at 04:46:08 | 12 |
| 04:46:15 CDT | Computed airspeed converged to the selected 137 knots; pressure altitude decreased below 2,500 ft marking the start of the final descent, DME about 5.75 NM (79 seconds before end of recording) | 12 |
| 04:46:20 CDT | Selected vertical speed changed to about -1000 fpm, then to about -1500 fpm at 04:46:34 | 12 |
| 04:46:38 CDT | Selected altitude changed from about 2,500 ft to about 3,775 ft; no significant change in aircraft state over the next 45 seconds | 12 |
| 04:47:25 CDT | Three-second EGPWS sink rate warning recorded; vertical speed -1536 fpm, radio altitude 235 ft | 12 |
| 04:47:26 CDT | Selected vertical speed changed to about -640 fpm, then -448 fpm 3 seconds later; control column began increasing to a final value of about 5 degrees nose up with pitch increasing similarly | 12 |
| 04:47:30 CDT | Slight increase in thrust indicated by engine parameters | 12 |
| 04:47:32 CDT | Throttle resolver angle indicated an additional request for increased thrust; N1, N2, EGT and fuel flow show the engines responded | 12 |
| 04:47:33 CDT | Last second of recording: left autopilot command changed to disengaged, autopilot off warning indicated, autothrottle changed from speed mode to retard mode; last recorded pitch about 7 degrees nose up, airspeed about 138 knots, radio altitude 14 ft | 13 |
| 04:47:34 CDT | FDR recording ended | 13 |
443 transcribed utterances from 03:13:39.5 to 04:47:41.6, 17 sources. Final entries:
| 04:47:38.8 | CAM | [sound of rustling, similar to impact, continues at higher volume until end of recording] |
| 04:47:39.9 | HOT-? | [grunting]. |
| 04:47:41.1 | HOT | [static]. |
| 04:47:41.3 | CAM | [end of loudest noise] |
| 04:47:41.6 | HOT | [end of recording] |
Docket: data.ntsb.gov/Docket/?NTSBNumber=DCA13MA133. This brief is an analytical aid assembled from public records; it is not an investigative finding.