NTSB releases new images of UPS plane moments before crash

(LOUISVILLE, Ky.) — Newly released photos included in a National Transportation Safety Board preliminary report on the deadly UPS plane crash in Louisville show the moment the aircraft’s left engine came off during takeoff and ignited.

Federal investigators are focusing on metal fatigue cracks around the engine of the UPS plane that crashed on Nov. 5, killing 14 people, according to a new report by the NTSB.

In a preliminary report released Thursday, the engine is seen flying off the McDonnell Douglas MD-11 freighter plane’s wing, going up into the air, before a burst of fire engulfs the plane.  

The plane was departing Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport, and headed to Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu, when the crash occurred.

The three crew members on board and 11 people on the ground were killed, officials said. Additionally, 23 people on the ground were injured, the NTSB said.

The newly released images in the NTSB report, taken from an airport surveillance video, show the left engine and left pylon separate from the left wing. A fire ignited on the left engine as it went up and over the fuselage, before it hit the ground, the NTSB said.

A fire also ignited “near the area of the left pylon attachment to the wing, which continued until ground impact,” the report stated.

The plane only got about 30 feet above the ground before it crashed in a ball of fire, impacting a storage yard and two buildings, according to the NTSB report.

Upon inspection following the crash, the left engine pylon showed signs of fatigue cracks and over-stress failure, according to the report. 

The parts with fatigue cracking were last inspected in October 2021, according to the report. The plane had completed 21,043 flights, and those parts were not scheduled to be inspected until the plane hit 28,000 flights, the report said.

In the wake of the crash, federal authorities are prohibiting all operators of McDonnell Douglas MD-11 planes from flying the aircraft until they are inspected.

The emergency directive from the Federal Aviation Administration on Saturday was “prompted by an accident where the left-hand engine and pylon detached from the airplane during takeoff,” FAA documents said. “The cause of the detachment is currently under investigation. The unsafe condition could result in loss of continued safe flight and landing.”

The NTSB noted in its report that a similar crash involving this type of plane killed over 270 people in Chicago in 1979. American Airlines Flight 191 crashed into an open field after the left engine and pylon assembly and part of the left wing separated from the plane during takeoff, the report said.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.