U.S. federal investigators have recovered both flight recorders from the wreckage of a UPS cargo plane that crashed in flames during takeoff from Louisville International Airport, killing at least 12 people, officials confirmed on Wednesday.
Todd Inman of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder, commonly known as “black boxes”, appeared intact and will be sent to Washington, D.C., for analysis.
“We feel confident that we’ll be able to get a good readout of the data, which will help us understand what happened,” Inman told reporters during the NTSB’s first briefing since the crash.
The 34-year-old McDonnell Douglas MD-11 freighter, bound for Honolulu with three crew members aboard, went down shortly after takeoff on Tuesday evening.
The aircraft reportedly burst into flames after clearing the runway fence, striking structures in an adjacent industrial area.
One of its three engines detached from the left wing during the takeoff roll, Inman said, triggering a massive explosion and fire that spread across a half-mile debris field and ignited a petroleum recycling facility.
Authorities confirmed that all three crew members and at least nine people on the ground were killed, with several others injured. Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said on X that “the death toll has risen to 12, with several individuals still unaccounted for.”
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear declared a state of emergency to accelerate rescue and recovery efforts.
More than 200 firefighters battled the blaze, which sent thick plumes of smoke into the evening sky and forced the temporary closure of the airport and UPS’s massive Worldport cargo hub, the company’s global air logistics center.
UPS said it resumed operations Wednesday evening and aimed to normalize delivery schedules by Thursday morning.
The NTSB said the investigation will focus on the fire and the engine separation captured on video. Aviation expert Anthony Brickhouse noted that while the MD-11 can technically fly with one engine out, “investigators will need to understand the impact of losing that engine on the rest of the aircraft.”
Boeing, which manufactures the MD-11 through its acquisition of McDonnell Douglas, and GE Aerospace, which produces the aircraft’s engines, said they are cooperating with investigators.
Production of the MD-11 ended in 2000, though about 50 of the jets remain in service worldwide, primarily with UPS and FedEx.
It was the first fatal crash involving a UPS aircraft since 2013, when an Airbus A300 went down in Birmingham, Alabama, killing both crew members.
The NTSB expects to release a preliminary report within 30 days, but a full investigation and determination of probable cause could take up to two years.
Source: Reuters
Written By Rodney Mbua
