Fatal accident with an Airbus A300 freighter

[LH-B744]

A few days ago, so to speak everything new for the new year (which is not quite true if we look at my beloved avatar ) ,
I rearranged my favorite TV stations. And there are at least 2 or 3 German TV stations (dmax, welt, ...) who mostly by night broadcast aviation safety topics.

This is what I'm talking about - and pls - sometimes I think that this forum is rather not for people who are younger than 18. But if you have children born after 2010, then you might at least watch them when they open the following link, a completely dead aircraft is not what I'd show to an all too young audience... [Lenny Kravitz - The Chamber (the video)]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UPS_Airlines_Flight_1354

I have a paper where I write down aviation safety topics since 1988 (or before). And that always happens with the same structure:
Date - 14 August 2013
a/c type - Airbus A300-600F freighter
departure - KSDF Louisville Kentuck Intl
arrival - n/a. planned and as I assume filed with IFR was KBHM Birmingham Alabama . But on final, there something went terribly wrong and
the two experienced freighter pilots crashed the A300F only so to speak centimeters away from the KBHM rwy 18 threshold.

...to be continued.

[LH-B744]

Not only because I sometimes think that I see a 744 freighter or rather 748 freighter here in the sky in Germany.
I had the idea for this topic due to television. Everything that possibly could go wrong sooner or later will be on television. You've fed your hamster with a five feet long salami and it went totally wrong, be sure it is on television.

But how was an experienced Flight Captain with 6406 flight hours for his airline able to destroy his working place, his A300F, on short final to KBHM .

It all had begun with a NOTAM, and after what I've seen on TV I tend to call it a rather fatal NOTAM: 'KBHM rwy 06/24 today is completely closed and n/a for landing.'

06/24 with a lenght of 3660m or 12,007ft is n/a for landing. But if you ask me and my avatar, that's what I had preferred!

Obviously, the F/O on that flight very clearly accepted the KBHM rwy 18, although that is only half as long as the 06/24, the 18 until today is only 2100m long. Useless for a 747 if you ask me,
but here in this case we talk about an A300-600F freighter, 54 meters long, with a take off roll of
very clearly not less than 2400 m.
Again, if you ask me under these circumstances, the KBHM rwy 18 (2100 m) is useless.

Thus, if I had been the F/O on that flight, I had denied the KBHM 18 !
A 2100 m rwy for a 60 m long jet, that does not fit together in my head.

Even with my Beech B200 simulator, I always look for runways with at least ILS Cat I, e.g. EDDL rwy 05R, which by Lohausen Control can also be cleared for Cat II .

And the KBHM 18 is not only very very VERY short, but also not equipped for autoland .

The official report says pilot error, or to be precise, rather F/O error, a fatal F/O error. She had to deny rwy 18 and request an alternate airport. Imho, the range in an A300 freighter is long enough for that, 4000 nautical miles .

The result. All souls dead on board (2 dead of 2 on board).

[3WE]

This crash is very much about subtleties. One of our fellow forumites said that his airline at the time prohibited some sorts of landings due to the raised terrain on the approach path (I don’t recall if it was all landings, instrument landings or night landings.)

Lots of insidiousness and Swiss cheese. The longer runway was minutes from being available. I think things got slightly hurried on the approach. I seem to recall it was a step down affair (and maybe? before we were using mathematical GPS glide slopes). Terrain. Edit: Some sort of descent control was being used, but the crew was arguably a tad high or fast and possibly behind.

Nightime, fatigue? and very few extra seconds descending a bit too fast.

ALL THAT BEING SAID, IF YOU FOLLOW THE INSTRUMENT PROCEDURE SOMEWHAT ACCURATELY and I think there was some sort of visual glide slope thingie YOU 1) DON’T HIT THE GROUND AND 2. SUPPOSEDLY HAVE A SLIGHTLY ROBUST SAFETY FACTOR. Edit:There was a PAPI.

I don’t know the exact details, but the nose also crumpled “exactly” wrong, with the cockpit sort of in tact, but the pilots did died.

[ATLcrew]

Not only because I sometimes think that I see a 744 freighter or rather 748 freighter here in the sky in Germany.
I had the idea for this topic due to television. Everything that possibly could go wrong sooner or later will be on television. You've fed your hamster with a five feet long salami and it went totally wrong, be sure it is on television.

But how was an experienced Flight Captain with 6406 flight hours for his airline able to destroy his working place, his A300F, on short final to KBHM .

It all had begun with a NOTAM, and after what I've seen on TV I tend to call it a rather fatal NOTAM: 'KBHM rwy 06/24 today is completely closed and n/a for landing.'

06/24 with a lenght of 3660m or 12,007ft is n/a for landing. But if you ask me and my avatar, that's what I had preferred!

Obviously, the F/O on that flight very clearly accepted the KBHM rwy 18, although that is only half as long as the 06/24, the 18 until today is only 2100m long. Useless for a 747 if you ask me,
but here in this case we talk about an A300-600F freighter, 54 meters long, with a take off roll of
very clearly not less than 2400 m.
Again, if you ask me under these circumstances, the KBHM rwy 18 (2100 m) is useless.

Thus, if I had been the F/O on that flight, I had denied the KBHM 18 !
A 2100 m rwy for a 60 m long jet, that does not fit together in my head.

Even with my Beech B200 simulator, I always look for runways with at least ILS Cat I, e.g. EDDL rwy 05R, which by Lohausen Control can also be cleared for Cat II .

And the KBHM 18 is not only very very VERY short, but also not equipped for autoland .

The official report says pilot error, or to be precise, rather F/O error, a fatal F/O error. She had to deny rwy 18 and request an alternate airport. Imho, the range in an A300 freighter is long enough for that, 4000 nautical miles .

The result. All souls dead on board (2 dead of 2 on board).

What?

[BoeingBobby]

What?

You expect something different?

[3WE]

What?

A plane crashed.

LHB feels the approach was ill-advised.

His experience on MSFS suggests that approaches are rather critical and he likes automation.

The crew did died. That is sad.

Let me know if you have additional questions.