The visual minimums at the time of the accident were actually inappropriate for using the standard approach to runway 28.

The studied spectra were all taken near the visual minimum, at which time the star was typical of a quiescent LBV.

The star is apparently in a transitional phase between a massive class O blue supergiant and a Wolf-Rayet star, and the spectral type varies between WN11 at visual minimum and an early A hypergiant at maximum.