Something from the CVR is puzzling me.
At end of recording -16 seconds, we have the sink rate warnings.
At EOR -13 seconds, one of the crew remarks "Runway in sight".
Why was that call made? Based on the weather, the runway should have been visible well before this. Was this call for FOQUA reasons? Is it indicative of an "OPS Normal" mindset?
Just seems out of place in the context of 4 seconds before impact with the trees.
We don't know the whole picture on this yet, but that call isn't necessarily suspicious to me. Personally I don't think they were referring to the weather. I think it may have been the Capt (PF) who made the comment in response to the Sink Rate warning to let the FO know that he was planning on adjusting his flight path and continuing the approach. I don't know what UPS' manuals say but my airline's manuals do not require an automatic go-around in response to a sink rate call. You just have to adjust the path to silence the warning, but if you get the pull up at Night or IMC it's an automatic GA. Perhaps the FO said something to him in the 3 secs between the sink rate callout and the runway in sight call. Or it may have even been a concerned look to prompt the response. Who knows at this point, we'll find out in time.