A catastrophic engine failure led to the crash of a UPS cargo aircraft shortly after takeoff from Louisville’s primary aviation facility Tuesday evening, claiming at least 12 lives including a child and triggering secondary explosions at nearby industrial sites.
Federal investigators revealed Wednesday that the left engine detached from the McDonnell Douglas MD-11 during its takeoff sequence, preceded by a substantial fire engulfing the wing. The National Transportation Safety Board has initiated a comprehensive investigation that officials anticipate will require over a year to complete.
Todd Inman, representing the NTSB investigation team, confirmed that airport security footage captured the moment the engine separated from the aircraft’s wing structure during the takeoff roll. The plane managed to gain sufficient altitude to clear perimeter fencing before descending and impacting the ground just beyond Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport’s boundaries.
“There are a lot of different parts of this airplane in a lot of different places,” Inman stated, characterising a debris field extending approximately half a mile from the initial impact point.
The aircraft, carrying three crew members, departed at approximately 5:15 p.m. Tuesday on a scheduled route to Honolulu from UPS Worldport, the company’s largest global sorting facility located at the Louisville airport.
Both the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder have been recovered and will undergo detailed analysis. Investigators also located the separated engine on the airfield, providing crucial physical evidence for determining the failure sequence.
Governor Andy Beshear addressed reporters Wednesday, acknowledging that rescue teams held minimal hope of locating additional survivors. “We do not expect to find anyone else alive,” he stated, noting that authorities were accounting for a “handful of other people” still unaccounted for in the wreckage.
The crash triggered a devastating chain reaction beyond the immediate impact zone. Flaming debris struck Kentucky Petroleum Recycling, igniting stored materials and causing multiple explosions. The aircraft also impacted Grade A Auto Parts, an automotive salvage facility where the child victim was present with a parent at the time of impact.
Beshear characterised it as fortunate that the aircraft avoided striking a nearby Ford Motor manufacturing plant or the city’s convention centre, either of which would likely have resulted in substantially higher casualties.
Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg updated the death toll to 12 via social media Wednesday evening, urging residents to “take a moment to hug your loved ones and check on your neighbours.”
Mark Little, chief of the Okolona Fire District responding to the scene, indicated that extensive debris removal and searching would continue for a considerable period. “It will take us quite a while,” he acknowledged.
University of Louisville Hospital reported two patients in critical condition within its burn treatment unit. Eighteen additional individuals received treatment at various medical facilities before being discharged.
Witnesses in the vicinity described terrifying moments as the massive aircraft descended in flames. Summer Dickerson, who works near the crash site, recalled her immediate confusion. “I didn’t know if we were getting attacked. I didn’t know what was going on,” she explained.
Kyla Kenady, bartending at Stooges Bar and Grill, witnessed the aircraft descending whilst serving customers. “I saw a plane in the sky coming down over top of our volleyball courts in flames,” she recounted. “In that moment, I panicked. I turned around, ran through the bar screaming, telling everyone that a plane was crashing.”
The establishment’s manager, Lynn Cason, described three successive explosions approximately 100 yards distant that shook the building’s structure. “Like somebody was bombing us,” she said, adding that remarkably no patrons or staff sustained injuries. “God was definitely with us.”
The airport, situated 7 miles from downtown Louisville near the Indiana border, resumed partial operations Wednesday with at least one runway operational. The facility serves a densely developed area including residential neighbourhoods, recreational facilities, and museums.
Governor Beshear indicated uncertainty regarding the status of the three UPS crew members aboard the 1991-manufactured aircraft, noting it remained unclear whether they were included in the confirmed fatality count.
UPS released a statement expressing that the company was “terribly saddened” by the disaster. The Louisville Worldport facility represents the corporation’s most extensive package handling operation, employing more than 20,000 regional workers, processing 300 daily flights, and sorting in excess of 400,000 packages hourly.
Jeff Guzzetti, a former federal aviation crash investigator, outlined multiple potential failure scenarios that could produce the observed sequence of events. “It could have been the engine partially coming off and ripping out fuel lines. Or it could have been a fuel leak igniting and then burning the engine off. It’s just too soon to tell,” he explained.
Guzzetti noted striking parallels between this incident and a 1979 catastrophe at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, where an American Airlines aircraft lost its left engine during departure, resulting in 273 fatalities. Both aircraft utilised identical General Electric engine models, and both underwent significant maintenance procedures in the month preceding their respective crashes.
The NTSB attributed the Chicago disaster to improper maintenance practices. The 1979 incident involved a DC-10 aircraft, whilst the crashed UPS plane was an MD-11, a design derived from the DC-10 platform.
Flight records indicate the UPS aircraft remained grounded in San Antonio from 3 September through 18 October, though the nature of maintenance performed during this extended period and any potential connection to the crash remains under investigation.
The maintenance history will receive intense scrutiny as investigators work to determine whether procedures performed in San Antonio contributed to the catastrophic engine separation. Maintenance-related failures have featured prominently in previous aviation disasters, making this aspect of the investigation particularly significant.
The MD-11’s age, over three decades in service, places it within a category requiring enhanced inspection protocols and more frequent detailed examinations of critical systems including engine mounting structures and fuel delivery systems.
