NTSB Points To Unstable Approach in UPS A300 Crash | Aviation International News

NTSB Points To Unstable Approach in UPS A300 Crash

The NTSB determined the probable cause to be the crew’s continuation of an unstable nonprecision approach.

The UPS A300 crew flew a nonprecision approach to Birmingham’s Runway 18.

By AIN Staff • AIN Staff

October 1, 2014

It could have happened to any two professional pilots flying a nonprecision approach, in darkness, into weather that turned out to be worse than they expected after a night of back-side-of-the-clock flying. But the NTSB’s September 9 hearing into the Aug. 14, 2013 crash of UPS Flight 1354, an Airbus A300-600, on approach to Birmingham, Ala. (BHM), proved that even crews flying heavy jets can lose situational awareness and get just as far behind on nonprecision approach as King Air crews, especially when a handful of other factors also come into play.

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