NTSB agents arrive in Louisville to investigate what caused engine to fall off UPS cargo plane and left wing to catch fire
The death toll from the UPS cargo plane that exploded into a fireball in Louisville on Tuesday night has risen to 12, said Craig Greenberg, the city’s mayor. At least 15 people were reported injured and “several individuals” were still unaccounted for, Greenberg said in a social media post.
A federal investigator announced earlier Wednesday a UPS cargo plane’s left wing caught fire and an engine fell off shortly after takeoff from the Louisville Muhammad Ali international airport, causing the plane to crash and explode into a fireball.
At least 28 National Transportation Safety Board agents arrived at the site in Kentucky and began searching for clues about the possible cause of the disaster, which left behind a fiery trail of destruction on the ground and a huge plume of thick black smoke.
After the plane was cleared for takeoff, a large fire developed in the left wing, said agent Todd Inman of the NTSB, which is leading the investigation. The plane gained sufficient altitude to clear the fence at the end of the runway before crashing off airport property, Inman told reporters.
Airport security video “shows the left engine detaching from the wing during the takeoff roll”, he said.
The cockpit voice recorder and data recorder were recovered, and the engine was discovered on the airfield, Inman said.
The recorders – known as black boxes – were built to withstand crash impacts and intense heat from fires, and they appeared to be intact when located amid the crash debris, Inman said.
“We feel comfortable that once we get these to our lab in DC that we will be able to get a good readout of the applicable data, and that will be yet another point of information that will really help us understand what happened,” Inman told reporters.
The NTSB typically issues preliminary reports into major air crashes within 30 days, but it takes 12 to 24 months to complete a full investigation, make a finding of probable cause and issue recommendations to help avoid similar incidents.
“There are a lot of different parts of this airplane in a lot of different places,” Inman said, describing a debris field that stretched for half a mile.
The plane, a McDonnell Douglas MD-11, had three crew members onboard and crashed at about 5.15pm local time on Tuesday, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. It was bound for Honolulu.
So far, 11 deaths and at least 15 injuries have been reported, according to Andy Beshear, Kentucky’s governor. He said in a social media post he expected the death toll to rise to 12 by end of day.
“The tough news continues today as the death toll in Louisville has now risen to at least 11, and I expect it to be 12 by end of the day,” Beshear’s post read. “Even harder news is that we believe one of those lost was a young child.”
The UofL Health hospital system said it was treating 15 patients in relation to the crash, with two of them in critical condition at the hospital’s burn center. Other injuries ranged from minor to severe burns, blast injuries, shrapnel injuries and smoke inhalation injuries.
“First responders have located nine total [dead] victims at the site of the UPS crash . We will continue to provide information as available,” said Greenberg.
Beshear said officials did not expect to find any more victims and were moving from rescue to recovery mode. He said there were a handful of people investigators were still searching for that they hoped were not on site.
Hundreds of firefighters have fanned out to deal with fires that erupted on the ground after the crash, although local leaders have asked the public to not move any debris and instead report it to help investigators piece together what happened.
“We have put together a form where residents can report debris in your yard,” Greenberg posted on social media. “We ask that residents do not touch or move any debris on your own.”
Investigators will try to find out how a seemingly routine flight – the UPS hub at Louisville has 300 flights a day – went so badly wrong. Officials have said there were no hazardous materials on the plane.
Videos showed flames on the plane’s left wing, with the aircraft then lifting off the ground before crashing and exploding into a huge fireball. Nearby residents reported hearing loud booms and witnessed flames in the sky and on the ground.
“No one should face tragedy alone. Please take a moment to hug your loved ones and check on your neighbors. We will continue providing resources and support to everyone affected by this heartbreaking event,” Greenberg said in a social media post.
The amount of fuel on the plane would make a large explosion almost inevitable, Pablo Rojas, an aviation attorney, told the Associated Press. “There’s very little to contain the flames and really the plane itself is almost acting like a bomb because of the amount of fuel,” he said.
US aviation safety expert Anthony Brickhouse said investigators were expected to focus on the engine which was seen on video to be ignited and appeared to have separated from the aircraft.
“It is designed to fly if you lose one engine, but we need to see the effect of losing that engine on the rest of the aircraft,” Brickhouse said.
The Louisville airport canceled all outbound flights following the crash. A shelter-in-place order surrounding the airport has now been reduced to a quarter-mile radius around the crash site.
The airport reopened to air traffic early on Wednesday, although the runway where the accident happened is expected to remain closed for another 10 days, officials said.
UPS said it halted package-sorting operations at its airport facility on Tuesday and then canceled a parcel-sorting shift on Wednesday that usually begins mid-morning.
The NTSB’s Inman said there was no evidence of a link between the accident and a 36-day US government shutdown that has strained air traffic control. He said the airport tower was believed to have been “at its proper complement” of personnel.