[Moonman62]

Preliminary review of the cockpit voice recorder shows the pilots were cleared to land on Runway 18/36 two minutes before the end of the recording.

Sixteen seconds before the end of the recording, the pilots received the first of two "sink rate" warnings, a mechanism which kicks in if a plane's descent does not match its programmed path, Sumwalt added.

Thirteen seconds to the end, a crew member reported the runway was in sight.

Nine seconds prior to the end, there are "sounds that are consistent with impact," Sumwalt said. Sumwalt stopped short of saying if those sounds were of the plane's first strike of trees near the airport or of the plane striking the ground, adding that the initial team's role is to collect, not analyze data.

Link

That seems late to be calling the runway in sight. Could they have been breaking through a low cloud?

[Yosemitest]

I definitely thing weather as a problem, and if the BHM was an automated weather station, a monitored computer at best like most FAA level 6 or smaller airports,
The automated computer didn't "see" the lower clouds until they were directly overhead the machine.
Thanks for the link and the input.

[Yosemitest]

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

(Excerpt)

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.

[radec]

That seems late to be calling the runway in sight. Could they have been breaking through a low cloud?

That is possible.