NTSB Says Alarms Sounded Before Impact, Pilots Had Little Time To React

The NTSB said that the crew flying a UPS A300 that went down short of Birmingham airport got both ground proximity and sink rate warnings before the plane impacted terrain. The accident fatally injured both pilots on board.

Radio station KRMG relays information from the Wall Street Journal that indicates the crew had very little time to react to the alarms when they sounded in the cockpit. The first first sink rate alarm reportedly sounded 16 seconds before the airplane hit the ground. Three seconds later, one pilot said the ground was in sight, but by then it was too late to arrest the sink rate.

Runway 18 at Birmingham/Shuttlesworth (KBHM) airport is reportedly not equipped for precision instrument procedures. The accident occurred just at sunrise, and there was rain falling, reducing visibility.

Fox News reports that NTSB member Robert Sumwalt said that the information about the alarms comes from the cockpit voice recorder (CVR), but nothing has been ruled in or out for determining the cause of the accident.  Runway 18 is 5,000 feet shorter than Birmingham/Shuttlesworth's main runway, but the longer runway was closed for maintenance at the time of the accident.

(NTSB image)

FMI: www.ntsb.gov