What role did fatigue play in the crash of a UPS cargo flight last August? The pilots themselves talked about being chronically tired just before they died in a predawn crash on approach to the airport in Birmingham, AL last August.
 
"Rarely in tragic accidents like this do pilots speak for themselves," said Brian Gaudet, spokesman for the Independent Pilots Association, which represents UPS flight crews. He told WSB's Pete Combs that the flight crew of UPS 1354, pilot Cerea Beal and copilot Shanda Fanning complained about their exhaustion and about the fact that airline flight crews are now required by law to get more rest than they do. That is borne out by the transcript of the Airbus A300-600 cockpit voice recorder.
 
(CAM-1 refers to Capt. Cerea Beal. CAM-2 is First Officer Shanda Fanning)
 
03:41:53.0
CAM-1 we have two extra hours today in Birmingham.
03:41:58.0
CAM-1 Rockford is only fourteen hours and * minutes rest. so you figure a thirty minute ride to-for hotel....
03:42:04.1
CAM-2 I know by the time you...
03:42:06.0
CAM-1 ...fourteen hours...
03:42:08.1
CAM-1 ...by the time you go to sleep you are down to about twelve. (wow).
03:42:14.5
CAM-1 this is where ah the passenger side you know the new rules they're gonna make out.
03:42:17.0
CAM-2 they're gonna make out.
03:42:18.3
CAM-1 yeah. we need that too.
03:42:20.2
CAM-1 I mean I [stammer††] don't get that. you know it should be one level of safety for everybody.
03:42:23.1
CAM-2 it makes no sense at all.
03:42:24.3
CAM-1 no it doesn't at all.
03:42:25.5
CAM-2 I know. I know.
 
03:42:26.2
CAM-1 nope.
03:42:27.9
CAM-1 which means that you know * real pilot.
03:42:30.4
CAM-1 you know.
03:42:32.1
CAM-2 and to be honest. [stammer] it should be across the board. to be honest in my opinion whether you are flying passengers or cargo or you know box of chocolates at night. if you're flying this time of day...
03:42:36.9
CAM-1 mm hmm.
03:42:44.9
CAM-1 yup.
03:42:48.2
 
CAM-1 (we work).
 
03:42:49.1
CAM-2 ...the you know [stammer] * fatigue is definitely...***.
 
03:42:49.7
CAM-1 yeah...yeah...yeah...**.
03:42:54.0
CAM-2 I was out and I slept today. I slept in Rockford. I slept good.
03:42:59.3
CAM-1 me too.
03:43:00.1
CAM-2 and I was out in that sleep room and when my alarm went off I mean I'm thinkin' I'm so tired...
 
03:43:06.1
CAM-1 I know.
 
03:43:06.1
CAM-2 ...and I slept today.
03:43:07.6
CAM-1 exactly.
03:43:08.1
CAM-2 I you know and we just are goin' to Birmingham. what if I was goin' to Burbank?
03:43:10.6
CAM-1 and these people---
03:43:11.8
CAM-1 really God I know these people have no clue. I know.
03:43:14.8
CAM-2 and I just don't understand what they---
03:43:17.5
CAM-1 and they you know they talk about cost. well on the passenger side it just costs just as much. the same thing. you know I mean give me a break. (and these companies are the ones that are really making the money). they got a lot nerve.
03:43:22.0
CAM-2 exactly.
03:43:23.6
CAM-2 exactly.
03:43:28.2
CAM-2 making the money.
 
03:43:29.9
CAM-2 I know (I).
03:43:30.9
CAM-1 yeah they do that [stammering] * says [stammering] a lot about what they how they think about you.
03:43:34.3
CAM-2 * says a lot *.
 
The aircraft took off moments later from Louisville, KY. It crashed approximately a half-hour later near Birmingham.
 
The National Transportation Safety Board Thursday held its first hearings on the August 14, 2013 crash of Flight 1354. One of the factors investigators zeroed in on early in their probe was the crew's remarks about fatigue.
 
After the February 12, 2009 crash of Colgan Air Flight 3407 near Buffalo, NY, the government ordered passenger flight crews get more rest between flights. While that rule went into effect January 4, 2013, it specifically exempted crews aboard cargo flights.
 
"It's disturbing to me," said Former National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Mark Rosenker. "I really am an advocate for one level of safety."
 
While documents presented at Thursday's NTSB hearing indicate Beal and Fanning would have met the new passenger flight crew standards for rest, Gaudet said the crew's pre-flight discussion indicated they were not just tired before their final flight, but were chronically fatigued.
 
Atlanta-based UPS is the world's largest package-delivery service.
 
The pilots were killed in the pre-dawn crash as they tried to land at Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport in Birmingham, Alabama, where the main runway was closed for maintenance. Captain Cerea Beal Jr. was attempting to land on a second, much shorter runway that wasn't equipped with a full instrument landing system to help keep planes from coming in too high or too low.
 
UPS pilots typically land at airports without the aid of a full instrument landing system only about once or twice a year, according to information presented to the National Transportation Safety Board. The pilots also failed to complete a last step in programming the plane's computer system for the landing. Without that step, the computer couldn't provide critical navigation help, witnesses said.
 
The pilots realized the computer couldn't help them but didn't abort the landing and try again, which would have been the preferred and expected action, testimony indicated. Beal also set the descent rate for that runway too high — 1,500 feet (457 meters) of altitude per minute rather than the recommended 1,000 feet (305 meters). That put the plane below the minimum safe altitude for its flight path. Moments later, the plane struck the tops of trees and an alert sounded that it was about to hit the ground.
 
"Oh, did I hit (somethin')?" Beal said, according to a transcript of the cockpit voice recorder. Then 3 seconds later, "oh, oh God." The recorder then cut off as the plane crashed.
 
Beal had complained to First Officer Shanda Fanning shortly after the flight left Louisville, Kentucky, that cargo pilots aren't given as much time to rest between work shifts as federal regulations require for pilots at passenger airlines, the transcript showed.
 
Fanning agreed. She said she had "good sleep" the previous night but woke up tired anyway.
 
Regulations governing pilot hours "should be across the board," Beal said, "to be honest, in my opinion, whether you are flying passengers or cargo or, you know, box of chocolates at night."
 
Beal had recently expressed concern about the schedules at the cargo carrier, according to a summary of investigators' interviews with witnesses.
 
"About 7 weeks before the accident, he told a colleague that the schedules were becoming more demanding because they were flying up to three legs per night," according to summary of interviews compiled by investigators. Beal said, "I can't do this until I retire because it's killing me," and had a similar conversation with another colleague the night before the accident, the summary said.
 
However, Beal's wife told investigators he hadn't expressed reservations about UPS scheduling to her, it said.
 
UPS officials cautioned against concluding the pilots were fatigued, and therefore prone to error.
 
"Crew rest is a complex concept. And for some, it's easy to jump to the conclusion that a pilot who flies at night must be tired," the company said in a statement. "It's also easy to presume that if they are tired, it's induced by their assigned work schedule. Neither is necessarily accurate."