LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The somber process of locating victims from the catastrophic blaze that ensued after a UPS cargo plane crash in Louisville, Kentucky, continued into a third day on Thursday. Investigators are working to uncover the reasons behind the fire and subsequent engine failure during takeoff.
The towering flames engulfed the massive aircraft and extended to nearby businesses, resulting in at least 12 fatalities, including a child. The devastation at UPS Worldport, the company’s primary aviation center, left minimal chances for finding survivors amid the scorched wreckage.
The aircraft, carrying a crew of three, had been granted clearance for takeoff on Tuesday when a significant fire erupted in its left wing, according to Todd Inman of the National Transportation Safety Board, which is heading the inquiry. Investigators anticipate that understanding the cause of the fire and the engine detachment could take over a year.
Inman stated that the plane managed to ascend just enough to clear the runway’s perimeter fence before plummeting just beyond Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport. The cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder have been retrieved, and the engine was located on the airfield.
The crash led to a chain reaction of destruction, igniting smaller explosions at Kentucky Petroleum Recycling and damaging an auto salvage yard. The deceased child was with a parent at the salvage yard, as reported by Governor Andy Beshear.
Even a day after the incident, the community was still reeling from the shock of the explosive noise, the sight of rising smoke, and the pervasive scent of burning fuel.
Stooges Bar and Grill bartender Kyla Kenady said lights suddenly flickered as she took a beer to a customer on the patio.
“I saw a plane in the sky coming down over top of our volleyball courts in flames,” she said. “In that moment, I panicked. I turned around, ran through the bar screaming, telling everyone that a plane was crashing.”
The governor predicted that that death toll would rise, saying authorities were looking for a “handful of other people” but “we do not expect to find anyone else alive.”
University of Louisville Hospital said two people were in critical condition in the burn unit. Eighteen people were treated and discharged at that hospital or other health care centers.
The airport is 7 miles (11 kilometers) from downtown Louisville, close to the Indiana state line, residential areas, a water park and museums. The airport resumed operations on Wednesday, with at least one runway open.
The status of the three UPS crew members aboard the McDonnell Douglas MD-11, made in 1991, was still unknown, according to Beshear. It was not clear if they were being counted among the dead.
UPS said it was “terribly saddened.”
The Louisville package handling facility is the company’s largest. The hub employs more than 20,000 people in the region, handles 300 flights daily and sorts more than 400,000 packages an hour.
Jeff Guzzetti, a former federal crash investigator, said a number of things could have caused the fire as the UPS plane was rolling down the runway.
“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,” Guzzetti said.
The crash bears a lot of similarities to one in 1979 when the left engine fell off an American Airlines jet as it was departing Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, killing 273 people, he said.
Guzzetti said that jet and the UPS plane were equipped with the same General Electric engines and both planes underwent heavy maintenance in the month before they crashed. The NTSB blamed the Chicago crash on improper maintenance. The 1979 crash involved a DC-10, but the MD-11 UPS plane is based on the DC-10.
Flight records show the UPS plane was on the ground in San Antonio from Sept. 3 to Oct. 18, but it was unclear what maintenance was performed and if it had any impact on the crash.
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Golden reported from Seattle. Associated Press reporters Ed White in Detroit; Rebecca Reynolds in Louisville, Kentucky; Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska; Jonathan Mattise and Travis Loller in Nashville, Tennessee; and Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire, contributed.
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