UPS 1354 (BHM) CVR Transcript

[CFIscare]

http://dms.ntsb.gov/public/55000-55499/55307/550788.pdf

Take special note on pages 14-17.

 

[Sol Rosenburg]

03:42:20.2

CAM-1

I mean I [stammer††] don't get that. you know it should be one level of safety for everybody.

 

[NewYorkophile]

So any idea what happened between AP disconnect and impact? It sounds like he had a higher-than-typical descent rate put in prior to that point- did they fail to readjust to a normal glide path after they got visual? There's a PAPI on that runway too.

http://skyvector.com/files/tpp/1402/pdf/00050L18.PDF

 

[Sol Rosenburg]

never got it into the profile nav just vertical speed mode till they disconnected and got sink rate warnings

 

[SeanD]

Thats odd there was a Delta flight with the same flight number in the area? What a mysterious transcript.

 

[Sol Rosenburg]

they griped about being left high several times, no asking for a 360?

 

[trafficinsight]

Someone somewhere is banging their head on their desk over the rest discussion.

 

[🦈💜]

Someone somewhere is banging their head on their desk over the rest discussion.

I am just cringing hard.

-Fox

 

[Autothrust Blue]

03:42:20.2

CAM-1

I mean I [stammer††] don't get that. you know it should be one level of safety for everybody.

Damn right.

 

[Autothrust Blue]

Someone somewhere is banging their head on their desk over the rest discussion.

Forget banging...maybe someone's head should be rolling.

 

[pete2800]

Forget banging...maybe someone's head should be rolling.

A few heads. And they should be actually and literally rolling. Although I'd settle for a drawing-and-quartering.


This should be front page news, everywhere.

 

[DE727UPS]

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/doomed-ups-plane-lacked-warning-180732039.html

WASHINGTON, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Updated software would have given UPS pilots an earlier warning that they were too low before their cargo jet crashed in August, killing both crew members on approach to the Birmingham, Alabama, airport, a National Transportation Safety Board report concluded.

The report, presented on Thursday as part of an NTSB hearing into the crash, said pilot Cerea Beal Jr. and first officer Shanda Fanning did not get a "too low terrain" warning from the plane's Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System until one second after the first sound of impact with trees in a residential area during its descent.

An updated version of the warning system's software would have alerted the pilot 5-1/2 seconds before the Airbus A300 freighter, which was on automatic pilot until just before the crash, hit the trees, the study said.

Simulations showed the first tree could have been avoided by an automated maneuver initiated within 0.6 seconds of the "too low" warning on the updated software, as well as through a manual maneuver within 2.4 seconds of the warning.

The plane crashed into a steep embankment far short of the runway.

A transcript of the plane's cockpit voice recorder indicated the crew had lined up the runway and turned off autopilot just before the crash.

Then, one of the crew asked, "Oh, did I hit?" immediately after the "too low terrain" warning, followed by exclamations and the sounds of impact.

 

[Itchy]

They do not set a radar altitude? Sucks to read that. Right out of the blue (or black).

 

[Sol Rosenburg]

They do not set a radar altitude? Sucks to read that. Right out of the blue (or black).

seat belt sign is on. landing elevation is set to six fifty. autobrakes are set to low. ECAM status is checked. standby airspeed bugs...

seems the language is there for it at some point

 

[Itchy]

seat belt sign is on. landing elevation is set to six fifty. autobrakes are set to low. ECAM status is checked. standby airspeed bugs...

seems the language is there for it at some point

I'm not familiar with the type or operation, I took that for pressurization.

 

[cmhumphr]

I'm not familiar with the type or operation, I took that for pressurization.

Yeah I believe that would be setting the pressurization. However somewhere in there they get a 1000' call, but they said something about they should be at 1200?

 

[SFLAX]

Maybe I missed something, but what did they do wrong? They were high, not low?

 

[Skåning]

Maybe I missed something, but what did they do wrong? They were high, not low?

If they were high they wouldn't have hit the hill

 

[SFLAX]

Agree, but in the transcript , they never say they are low, or we should be at X at point Y.

 

[Sol Rosenburg]

I'm not familiar with the type or operation, I took that for pressurization.

very likely, yeah thinking about that.

The first reaction to a very wrong picture was the "did we hit something."? Telling I think of the black hole approach scenario.