U.P.S. Cargo Plane Crashes in Alabama

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/15/us/ups-cargo-plane-crashes-in-alabama.html

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A United Parcel Service cargo plane crashed during its landing approach at the Birmingham, Ala., airport on Wednesday morning, killing the pilot and the co-pilot, the authorities said.

The accident occurred about 6 a.m., as U.P.S. Flight 1354, which was en route from Louisville, Ky., made its descent toward Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport, about five miles northeast of downtown Birmingham, said Kathleen Bergen, a spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration.

The plane, an Airbus A300, a twin-engine aircraft that is commonly used by air cargo companies for medium-range flights, went down in a field about half a mile from a north runway at the airport, officials said.

Upon impact, the plane split in two and fire engulfed the tail section. Firefighters spent about an hour and a half extinguishing the blaze, said C. W. Mardis, a battalion chief and fire marshal for the Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service.

Mr. Mardis said there had been at least two explosions after the crash and a trail of plane parts and packages that extended over a wide area. No one on the ground was injured, he said.

Officials from the National Transportation Safety Board were expected to arrive late Wednesday to try to determine a cause for the accident, the agency said.

Mitch Nichols, president of U.P.S., said in a statement released Wednesday, “this incident is very unfortunate, and our thoughts and prayers are with those involved.”

The plane, equipped with Pratt & Whitney engines, had accumulated approximately 11,000 flight hours over about 6,800 flights since its delivery to U.P.S. in 2003, according to Airbus. The company said a team of specialists had been dispatched from France, where the company has its headquarters, to Alabama to aid in the investigation.

<NYT_AUTHOR_ID> <p>Matthew L. Wald contributed reporting from Washington and Nicola Clark contributed reporting from Paris.