Little info from a controller. Capt flying, a/c crossed FAF at or just below altitude specified on chart, at 1 mile a/c was at 150 ground speed and UPS normally use r/w 18 if available .
I'll raise the partial B.S. flag on this one. I talked with a friend who drives the 'bus for UPS. He's been to BHM many times and says he has never landed on 18. The captain was indeed flying from what the NTSB press conference said earlier.
Today's NTSB press conference said that the FDR data shows the autopilot was on until one second before the end of FDR data and the autothrottles were on until the end of the FDR data. The CVR recording runs for several seconds after the FDR data ended.
Airspeed on approach was about 140 knots, approximately what was expected for this approach configuration.
Flight control inputs seem to correlate with flight control surface position indications and engines seem to have responded normally to autothrottle commands.
An FAA flight test of the runway 18 PAPI showed that it was indicating within one hundredth of a degree of the correct path.
Robert Sumwalt misspoke while answering a question and at one point referenced the ILS to runway 18 but he knows the difference, he flew for Piedmont and US Air for 24 years.