An investigator works near a section of debris of a UPS Airbus A300 cargo plane after it crashed Wednesday on approach at Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport in Birmingham, Ala. The two pilots aboard the aircraft were killed. Witnesses say the jet was on fire before it crashed to the ground.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — A UPS cargo plane crashed into a field near the Birmingham airport Wednesday, killing two pilots and scattering wreckage over a wide rural area moments after witnesses heard the massive jet coming in at treetop level.

People living near the airfield reported seeing flames coming from the aircraft and hearing its engines struggle in the final moments before impact.

“It was on fire before it hit,” said Jerome Sanders, who lives directly across from the runway.

The plane, an A300 that had departed from Louisville, Ky., went down around daybreak about a half-mile from Birmingham-Shuttlesworth Airport. It broke into several pieces and caught fire. The pilot and co-pilot were the only people aboard.

Weather conditions at the time were rainy with low clouds.

Toni Herrera-Bast, a spokeswoman for the city’s airport authority, said the crash did not affect airport operations, but it knocked down power lines.

The National Transportation Safety Board sent a team of investigators to the scene.

A preliminary investigation indicated the pilots did not make any distress calls, board member Robert L. Sumwalt said.

Investigators were waiting to retrieve the cockpit-voice and flight-data recorders because the tail of the aircraft was still smoldering, Sumwalt said.

UPS spokesman Jeff Wafford said the jet was carrying a variety of cargo.

The pilots’ names were not immediately released. But a man who identified himself as a family member said one of the pilots was Shanda Fanning, a woman in her mid-30s from Lynchburg, Tenn.

Wes Fanning, who said he was the woman’s brother-in-law, said Shanda Fanning had been flying since she was a teenager.

He said officials contacted her mother and UPS representatives were with the family.

Ryan Wimbleduff, who lives just across the street from the airport property, said the crash shook his house violently. Standing in his driveway, he and his mother could see the burning wreckage.

“I ran outside and it looked like the sun was coming up because of the fire on the hill,” he said. “Balls of fire were rolling toward us.”

Chunks of riveted metal that appeared to be from the plane landed in the yard of Cornelius and Barbara Benson, who also live near the crash site.

Barbara Benson said she was awakened by a tremendous boom and “saw a big red flash” through her bedroom window.