Federal investigators on Saturday indicated they are increasingly looking into pilot training and landing procedures, rather than any airplane malfunctions, to unravel Wednesday's crash of a United Parcel Service Inc. cargo jet while it was trying to land at the Birmingham, Ala., airport.
In the last on-site press briefing from the accident scene, the National Transportation Safety Board gave its strongest signal yet that experts haven't discovered any problems with the Airbus A300's engines, automated flight-controls or other onboard systems. In coming weeks, investigators will conduct a flight test "to learn more about" UPS pilot procedures during such a landing approach, board member Robert Sumwalt told reporters Saturday.
Stressing that "this is just the very beginning of the investigation" and no conclusions have been reached yet about the probable cause, Mr. Sumwalt nevertheless provided new details that the focus of the probe is on why the pilots failed to realize they were descending too quickly in the predawn darkness. The twin-engine jet hit some power lines and trees, before slamming into a hill and breaking apart in a field less than a mile short of the strip.
With the plane's engines and flight-control system seemingly operating normally, according to Mr. Sumwalt, the cockpit crew kept the autopilot and automated thrust-control system, called autothrust, engaged throughout the final seconds of the approach. He said investigators have preliminary determined that the plane's speed, as well as the position of movable surfaces on the wings and tail, was consistent with a normal landing approach. But the jet's trajectory was off, and its altitude was too low at the very end of the approach.
Investigators previously said that barely a few seconds prior to impact, the pilots received an automated alert from an onboard collision-avoidance system, warning them that the plane was sinking dangerously quickly.
In mentioning the upcoming flight test, Mr. Sumwalt said the emphasis will be to understand how UPS safety officials "recommend or train" pilots to fly the type of non-precision approach used in Birmingham the day of the accident. The plane was approaching a strip that lacks a full-blown instrument-landing system, because a longer strip that is equipped with such advanced navigation aids was temporarily closed for maintenance.
Mr. Sumwalt said pilots frequently keep autopilots and autothrottles engaged throughout landing approaches. But in the Birmingham accident, he added, investigators want "to understand what the crew was doing and what they knew" during the final few seconds of the flight.
The NTSB previously said the cockpit-voice recorder revealed that one of the pilots said the runway was "in sight" barely four seconds before the first sounds of impact.
Write to Andy Pasztor at [email protected]
In the last on-site press briefing from the accident scene, the National Transportation Safety Board gave its strongest signal yet that experts haven't discovered any problems with the Airbus A300's engines, automated flight-controls or other onboard systems. In coming weeks, investigators will conduct a flight test "to learn more about" UPS pilot procedures during such a landing approach, board member Robert Sumwalt told reporters Saturday.
Stressing that "this is just the very beginning of the investigation" and no conclusions have been reached yet about the probable cause, Mr. Sumwalt nevertheless provided new details that the focus of the probe is on why the pilots failed to realize they were descending too quickly in the predawn darkness. The twin-engine jet hit some power lines and trees, before slamming into a hill and breaking apart in a field less than a mile short of the strip.
With the plane's engines and flight-control system seemingly operating normally, according to Mr. Sumwalt, the cockpit crew kept the autopilot and automated thrust-control system, called autothrust, engaged throughout the final seconds of the approach. He said investigators have preliminary determined that the plane's speed, as well as the position of movable surfaces on the wings and tail, was consistent with a normal landing approach. But the jet's trajectory was off, and its altitude was too low at the very end of the approach.
Investigators previously said that barely a few seconds prior to impact, the pilots received an automated alert from an onboard collision-avoidance system, warning them that the plane was sinking dangerously quickly.
In mentioning the upcoming flight test, Mr. Sumwalt said the emphasis will be to understand how UPS safety officials "recommend or train" pilots to fly the type of non-precision approach used in Birmingham the day of the accident. The plane was approaching a strip that lacks a full-blown instrument-landing system, because a longer strip that is equipped with such advanced navigation aids was temporarily closed for maintenance.
Mr. Sumwalt said pilots frequently keep autopilots and autothrottles engaged throughout landing approaches. But in the Birmingham accident, he added, investigators want "to understand what the crew was doing and what they knew" during the final few seconds of the flight.
The NTSB previously said the cockpit-voice recorder revealed that one of the pilots said the runway was "in sight" barely four seconds before the first sounds of impact.
Write to Andy Pasztor at [email protected]