Updated at 4:41 p.m. ET
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. A UPS cargo plane crashed Wednesday morning in an open field just outside an airport in Birmingham, Ala., killing two pilots and scattering wreckage over a rural area moments after witnesses heard the massive A300 jet coming in at treetop level.
April Odom, a spokeswoman for Birmingham Mayor William Bell, confirmed to CBS News that two bodies were found in the wreckage.
Earlier, UPS spokesman Jeff Wafford said there were two crew members aboard the plane, and Bell said the two crewmembers on board were the pilot and the co-pilot.
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Witnesses said there were as many as five explosions in the hour since the Airbus A300 plane crashed around 5 a.m. CDT on approach to Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport.
People living near the airfield reported seeing flames coming from the plane and hearing its engines struggle in the final moments before impact.
"It was on fire before it hit," said Jerome Sanders, who lives directly across from the runway.
Odom told CBS News no distress calls were made from the flight to the airport's air-traffic-control tower.
Reporter Rick Jackson of CBS Birmingham affiliate WIAT-TV reported on "CBS This Morning" on the phone from near the crash site that the plane split in half from the impact.
A residential area is about two blocks away from where Jackson was reporting. A resident walking his dog told Jackson that he was "blessed" that the plane didn't crash in the neighborhood.
There were no homes in the immediate area of the crash, said Toni Herrera-Bast, a spokeswoman for Birmingham's airport authority.
The Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement that the plane was en route from Louisville, Ky.
In a statement, Airbus said the twin-engine aircraft was built in 2003 and had accumulated approximately 11,000 flight hours over about 6,800 flights.
Herrera-Bast said the plane crashed in "open land" she described as a grassy field on the outskirts of the airport. The crash hasn't affected airport operations, she said.
A UPS cargo plane lies on a hill at Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport after crashing on approach Aug. 14, 2013, in Birmingham, Ala.
/ AP Photo/Hal Yeager
FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said the scene is about a half-mile north of Runway 18.
At 7 a.m. Wednesday, conditions in the area were rainy with low clouds. Smoke was still rising from the scene at 7:47 a.m. There was a piece of the plane's white fuselage near a blackened area on the ground.
Ryan Wimbleduff, who lives just across the street from the airport property, said the crash shook his house violently. Standing in his driveway, he and his mother could see the burning wreckage.
"I ran outside and it looked like the sun was coming up because of the fire on the hill," he said. "Balls of fire were rolling toward us."
Chunks of riveted metal that appeared to be from the plane landed in the yard of Cornelius and Barbara Benson, who live just a short walk from the crash site.
Barbara Benson said she was awakened by a tremendous boom and "saw a big red flash" through her bedroom window.
As day broke, the two were able to see that the tops of trees around their property had been knocked down and they were missing a piece of their back deck.
Cornelius Benson said planes routinely fly so low over his house that a few years ago, the airport authority sent crews to trim treetops.
The planes come so close that Barbara Benson said she's sometimes been able to "to wave at the captains as they pass."
Sharon Wilson, who also lives near the airport, said she was in bed before dawn when she heard what sounded like engines sputtering as the plane went over her house.
"It sounded like an airplane had given out of fuel. We thought it was trying to make it to the airport. But a few minutes later we heard a loud boom." she said.
James Giles, who lives just off the airport's property, said the plane missed his home by a couple of hundred yards, judging from tree damage and debris. He was at work at the time but said it was clear from the scene that the plane was attempting to land on the north-south runway that is typically used by much smaller aircraft. Large planes such as the A300 typically use the bigger east-west runway, he said.
"They were just trying to get to a landing spot, anywhere," he said.
The plane appears to have struck a massive hardwood tree north of the runway. The top was broken out of the tree and there are pieces of a utility pole and limbs in the road. Nearby, grass was blackened near the bottom of a hill. A piece of the fuselage and an engine are visible on the crest of the hill. White smoke was pouring from the other side of the hill.
"As we work through this difficult situation, we ask for your patience, and that you keep those involved in your thoughts and prayers," Atlanta-based UPS said in a statement.
Previously, a UPS cargo plane crashed on Sept. 3, 2010, in the United Arab Emirates, just outside Dubai. Both pilots were killed. Authorities there blamed the crash on its load of between 80,000 to 90,000 lithium batteries, which are sensitive to temperature. Investigators found that a fire on board likely began in the cargo containing the batteries.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. A UPS cargo plane crashed Wednesday morning in an open field just outside an airport in Birmingham, Ala., killing two pilots and scattering wreckage over a rural area moments after witnesses heard the massive A300 jet coming in at treetop level.
April Odom, a spokeswoman for Birmingham Mayor William Bell, confirmed to CBS News that two bodies were found in the wreckage.
Earlier, UPS spokesman Jeff Wafford said there were two crew members aboard the plane, and Bell said the two crewmembers on board were the pilot and the co-pilot.
[h=3]Birmingham mayor: Several homes in area had debris on roofs[/h]
[h=3]Cargo plane down in Birmingham, Ala. - RAW VIDEO[/h]
Witnesses said there were as many as five explosions in the hour since the Airbus A300 plane crashed around 5 a.m. CDT on approach to Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport.
People living near the airfield reported seeing flames coming from the plane and hearing its engines struggle in the final moments before impact.
"It was on fire before it hit," said Jerome Sanders, who lives directly across from the runway.
Odom told CBS News no distress calls were made from the flight to the airport's air-traffic-control tower.
Reporter Rick Jackson of CBS Birmingham affiliate WIAT-TV reported on "CBS This Morning" on the phone from near the crash site that the plane split in half from the impact.
A residential area is about two blocks away from where Jackson was reporting. A resident walking his dog told Jackson that he was "blessed" that the plane didn't crash in the neighborhood.
There were no homes in the immediate area of the crash, said Toni Herrera-Bast, a spokeswoman for Birmingham's airport authority.
The Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement that the plane was en route from Louisville, Ky.
In a statement, Airbus said the twin-engine aircraft was built in 2003 and had accumulated approximately 11,000 flight hours over about 6,800 flights.
Herrera-Bast said the plane crashed in "open land" she described as a grassy field on the outskirts of the airport. The crash hasn't affected airport operations, she said.
/ AP Photo/Hal Yeager
FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said the scene is about a half-mile north of Runway 18.
At 7 a.m. Wednesday, conditions in the area were rainy with low clouds. Smoke was still rising from the scene at 7:47 a.m. There was a piece of the plane's white fuselage near a blackened area on the ground.
Ryan Wimbleduff, who lives just across the street from the airport property, said the crash shook his house violently. Standing in his driveway, he and his mother could see the burning wreckage.
"I ran outside and it looked like the sun was coming up because of the fire on the hill," he said. "Balls of fire were rolling toward us."
Chunks of riveted metal that appeared to be from the plane landed in the yard of Cornelius and Barbara Benson, who live just a short walk from the crash site.
Barbara Benson said she was awakened by a tremendous boom and "saw a big red flash" through her bedroom window.
As day broke, the two were able to see that the tops of trees around their property had been knocked down and they were missing a piece of their back deck.
Cornelius Benson said planes routinely fly so low over his house that a few years ago, the airport authority sent crews to trim treetops.
The planes come so close that Barbara Benson said she's sometimes been able to "to wave at the captains as they pass."
Sharon Wilson, who also lives near the airport, said she was in bed before dawn when she heard what sounded like engines sputtering as the plane went over her house.
"It sounded like an airplane had given out of fuel. We thought it was trying to make it to the airport. But a few minutes later we heard a loud boom." she said.
James Giles, who lives just off the airport's property, said the plane missed his home by a couple of hundred yards, judging from tree damage and debris. He was at work at the time but said it was clear from the scene that the plane was attempting to land on the north-south runway that is typically used by much smaller aircraft. Large planes such as the A300 typically use the bigger east-west runway, he said.
"They were just trying to get to a landing spot, anywhere," he said.
The plane appears to have struck a massive hardwood tree north of the runway. The top was broken out of the tree and there are pieces of a utility pole and limbs in the road. Nearby, grass was blackened near the bottom of a hill. A piece of the fuselage and an engine are visible on the crest of the hill. White smoke was pouring from the other side of the hill.
"As we work through this difficult situation, we ask for your patience, and that you keep those involved in your thoughts and prayers," Atlanta-based UPS said in a statement.
Previously, a UPS cargo plane crashed on Sept. 3, 2010, in the United Arab Emirates, just outside Dubai. Both pilots were killed. Authorities there blamed the crash on its load of between 80,000 to 90,000 lithium batteries, which are sensitive to temperature. Investigators found that a fire on board likely began in the cargo containing the batteries.