- Date
- August 14, 2013, 04:40 local (09:40 UTC)
- Place
- Birmingham, AL
- Injuries
- 2 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N155UPAirbus A300 - F4 622R
- Defining event
- Approach-IFR final approach: Controlled flight into terr/obj (CFIT)
- Weather
- Night/dark
- Status
- Completed · report February 3, 2015
- Report
- Board-adopted at Board Meeting
- Investigation class
- Class 1
- NTSB office
- Major Investigations Division
- Parties
- IPA, FAA, IBT (Teamsters), BEA, Birmingham Airport Authority, Pratt and Whitney, UPS, AIRBUS
- Safety recommendations
- Yes
- Case key
- 87780
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
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.
Findings · 13
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
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).
Factual narrative
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).
Aircraft
- Registration
- N155UP
- Reported as
- Airbus A300 - F4 622R (F4 622R)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 0841
- Airframe hours
- 11,043
- Engines
- P & W PW4158, 58,000 lbs thrust, turbo fanP & W PW4158, 58,000 lbs thrust, turbo fan
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Fire
- On-Ground
- Flight
- Part 121
- Operator
- United Parcel Service Co, doing business as United Parcel Service Co
- Registered owner
- United Parcel Service Co
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Transport
- Last inspection
- Continuous airworthiness · August 14, 2013
- Departed
- SDF · Louisville, KY
- Destination
- BHM · Birmingham, AL
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- BHM · Birmingham-Shuttlesworth Inter, runway 18, 7,099 × 150 ft
- Equipment
- Electronic multifunction display, Data recorder, Auto-pilot, Stall warning system, Onboard weather, Electronic primary flight display
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew · 2
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 58
- Injuries
- Fatal
- Certificate
- Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- June 26, 2013
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 5-point
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 6,406 total · 3,265 in this make and model · 1,516 as pilot in command · 97 in the last 90 days · 41 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
- Role
- Co-pilot
- Age
- 37
- Injuries
- Fatal
- Certificate
- Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- June 26, 2013
- Seat
- Right
- Restraint
- 5-point
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 1,253 total · 403 in this make and model · 0 as pilot in command · 95 in the last 90 days · 31 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Night/dark
- Wind
- 340° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 3,500 ft broken
- Altimeter
- 29.96 inHg
- Observed at
- BHM, 1 nm away
Docket · 137
The files NTSB released with the investigation on February 20, 2014, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 151 MB in all.