BREAKING: FAA: UPS jet crashes in Birmingham, Ala.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — A federal aviation official says a large UPS cargo plane has crashed near an airport in Birmingham, Ala.

Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen tells The Associated Press that the A300 plane crashed on approach to the airport before dawn Wednesday. [snip]

Your timing is off. I believe weather was definitely a factor as to WHY the pilot flew that Airbus 300 into the trees.

My timing is correct. I even gave you an out. I told you to run the radar loop for entire morning.

You can believe whatever you want.

You're entitled to your own opinions, but not your own facts.

There was no severe weather near the airport immediately before, during or after the crash.

None of the witnesses mention storms.

Visibility at the time of the crash was 10SM. This is not likely in severe weather.

If severe weather had ANY chance of being a factor, it would have be reported continually by the talking heads on MSM... for the entire day. But it was never mentioned by anybody.

NTSB: UPS plane's recordings reveal 2 warnings seconds before impact (updated, photos):

Data collection continues Also on Friday, investigators interviewed the two air traffic controllers on duty during the crash. One was on an allowed break. The controller who witnessed the crash said "he saw what appeared to be a bright spark flash, which he equated to what it would look like if a power line broke," Sumwalt said. The air traffic controller said the plane's landing lights disappeared and there was a bright orange flash, followed by a red glow. There also wasn't an alert from the controllers' minimum safe altitude warning system, or software programmed into the airport's radar to detect if a plane is approaching the ground at a dangerous rate. "What we want to understand is should it have alerted, and if it should have, why did it not alert," Sumwalt said. "Now that we're finding out some things, we can start digging deeper." Planned checks of the airport's localizer -- the system which guides pilots to the runway -- and the runway approach lights were [NOT] done Friday because of low clouds, Sumwalt said. Sumwalt stressed they are just in the early stages of their investigation, but things are moving just as they should. "We're really here just to put everything on the table," Sumwalt said. "we're not doing any analysis while we're here. We're just in the data collection phase. We can't rule anything in, we can't rule anything out." At the crash scene earlier on Friday, investigators including the NTSB, French investigators for Airbus and the FBI continued to catalog the wreckage. "I think the wreckage should probably be moved out of here in about seven days," Sumwalt said. "We want to make sure we've got everything documented before we release it to the airline."

I want to know more about the weather and WHY the "Planned checks of the airport's localizer" and "the runway approach lights were [NOT] done" .
What is their status after they're checked?
What is the status of the Runway 18 VASI lighting system, was it working correctly?

VASI: 4-light PAPI on left side

There is a lot more to learn.

....I don’t know where to start...I’ not quite sure why you worry upon my health, and well-being. I surmise that you are the senior who should be worried about his health, as you are retired. I am far from it. My right seat is 87 years old...that lets me know I have at least fourty more years.

Where is my “local mentality”? Geographically, where is my “local mentality”? Really...I want to know.

I’m also glad that I’m getting older every day....if I quit that....I hope you get older every day.

Take a look at what a lot of FAA and some military sites are using now to reduce manning cost.

Automatic Weather Observation Systems.

One of the biggest problems with this system is the Ceilometer.
Its purpose is to determine cloud base height.
But it's not movable, where the older manned system, the weather technician could rotate the radar to a heading and then roll the instrument up from ground level, looking out many miles, to any angle up to 90 degrees and determine cloud height for clouds several miles away from the airport, and report them.
The automated system has to wait until the clouds are overhead to measure them, and doesn't "see" them as they approach.
It's very dangerous to all who depend upon the accuracy of the weather information for the airports they are used at.

You can also look at All Weather Inc’s Automated Weather Observing System (AWOS), but they're not any better.
These systems are dangerous and they're getting people killed!
You just cannot replace a human being using human logic and doing the job.

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