ORLANDO, Fla. — Federal investigators are trying to determine what led to a fiery UPS cargo plane crash at Louisville’s Muhammad Ali International Airport that killed at least 12 people and injured several others.
Dramatic dashcam video captured the moment the aircraft went down in flames, showing its left wing striking the ground and leaving behind a massive trail of fire. One witness said, “There was a huge explosion, believed to be a plane crash, huge fire and smoke.”
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) confirmed on Wednesday that the plane’s left engine detached during takeoff. “We have reviewed CCTV security coverage, which shows the left engine detaching from the wing during the takeoff roll,” said NTSB’s Todd Inman.
Aviation expert Captain Richard Levy told Channel 9 that the detachment was likely catastrophic, and that the pilot may not have realized there was a problem until it was too late. “When that happens, an aircraft loses an engine in that respect,” Levy explained. “We have engine indications of the loss of thrust, but we normally do not get bells and whistles. You get bells and red lights when an engine is on fire. And that’s what’s different here.”
Levy said timing played a key role. “The odds are very high that the crew would have seen engine failure before the decision speed of V1 and the takeoff would have been rejected or stopped, but that did not happen,” he said.
UPS has since halted operations at the shipping hub while investigators work at the crash site. Levy said the NTSB will now comb through maintenance records and recover the flight and cockpit voice recorders to determine whether the tragedy could have been prevented. “They will find out the cause of this,” he said. “They take that information to prevent future accidents like this from happening.”
Passenger flights have resumed at Louisville’s airport, but only one runway remains open as crews continue recovery and cleanup operations.
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