It was reported that a UPS Airbus 300 crashed this morning on approach to Birmingham Alabama. Both pilots were killed.
That's all I know at this time. I'll update as I found out more.
Link to the Local News Site
I initially reported that the weather was clear at the time of the accident. I've seen been told that it was raining pretty hard in Birmingham at the time. That may or may not have been a contributing factor.
The loss of a cargo plane generally draws very little media attention.
An incident like this reminds us that flying freight is a very dangerous business. We operate on the back side of the clock. Our aircraft are frequently older models that were purchased used after the passenger carriers had already worn them out. We often carry hazardous materials.
I've operated the Airbus 300 and I consider it to be a fairly safe aircraft, but it has its quirks and you need to be aware of them.
My A300 Diary
We won't know much more until they analyze the flight data recorders.
Fly safe.
Thu Aug 15, 2013 at 10:33 AM PT: Here are the METARs from the time of the accident.
KBHM 140953Z 34004KT 10SM FEW011 BKN035 OVC075 23/22 A2997 RMK AO2 SLP141 T02330222
KBHM 140904Z 00000KT 10SM SCT010 BKN075 23/22 A2996 RMK AO2
In plain text, the airport was experiencing calm winds.Visibility was 10 miles, with few clouds at 1000 feet and a broken deck at 3500 feet. No mention of rain or mist.
There is nothing in that weather report that would have given me any cause for concern.
You may hear or see some analysis in the next few days based on the flight tracking data from Flightaware. I wouldn't put a lot of stock in those because Flightaware data can be quite inaccurate at times.