Probable Cause in UPS Crash in Birmingham To Be Announced
NTSB meeting will also review data on study of drug use in aviation.

The NTSB will release the probable cause of the UPS Flight 1354 accident at Birmingham, Ala., on Aug. 14, 2013, tomorrow. The captain and first officer were killed and the airplane was destroyed when an Airbus A300-600 crashed short of Runway 18 during a non-precision approach.

The September 9 meeting will start at 9.30 a.m. in the NTSB boardroom and conference center at 429 L’Enfant Plaza, SW, Washington, D.C. In late August, the NTSB barred UPS Airlines and its pilot union, the International Pilots Association (IPA), from further participation in the investigation for violating terms of the investigation agreement after the IPA issued a press release with its own analysis of the accident citing fatigue as a major factor. The airline then posted a rebuttal to the union news release on the company website.

Immediately following the discussion of the UPS accident, the Board will consider the findings of a safety study on drug use trends in aviation that will examine trends in over-the-counter, prescription and illicit drug use documented from toxicology reports of pilots who died in plane crashes in the U.S. from 1990-2012. A link to the webcast will be available here, shortly before the start of the meeting.