National Transportation Safety Board deploys 28-person team to investigate engine separation incident that resulted in fatal crash of UPS flight 2976 bound for Honolulu
US safety investigators have started the arduous process of determining why a UPS Boeing MD-11 Freighter caught fire and crashed shortly after taking off from Muhammad Ali International Airport (SDF) in Louisville, Kentucky on the evening of 4 November.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has already confirmed some details about the incident, with investigators on site having located the aircraft’s L3Harris-made cockpit voice and flight-data recorders, NTSB member Todd Inman said on 5 November, speaking from Louisville.
Inman also confirms the aircraft, which was operating as flight UPS2976 to Honolulu, lost its left-side turbofan immediately before slamming into the ground, corroborating video circulating on social media showing the jet take off.
“A large plume of fire in the area of the left wing occurred during the take-off roll. The plane lifted off and gained enough altitude to clear the fence at the end of runway 17R,” Inman says. “Shortly after clearing that fence, it made impact with structures and terrain off of the airport property.”
“A post impact fire ensured” that covered “almost a half of a mile,” he adds, “There are a lot of different parts of this airplane in different places.”
A photograph posted to social media shows what appears to be a damaged turbofan on grass near the runway. The jet was powered by three GE Aerospace CF6 turbofans, according to fleet data provider Cirium.
“We do believe that is the engine from the left side of the plane. It is on the airfield,” Inman says. “That correlates with the video we have seen of it detaching from the airplane while it was in flight.”
“The left engine detached from the wing during the take-off roll,” Inman adds.
Registered N259UP and manufactured in 1991, the jet was operating UPS flight 2976 from Louisville to Honolulu with three crew aboard. It crashed in an industrial area immediately south of Louisville’s runway 17R, striking several business including a petroleum recycling facility.
Including those on the ground, the crash killed at least nine people and injured at least 11.
The NTSB will have 28 staff at the scene before the end of 5 November, and teams will soon begin searching runway 17R for debris.
Inman confirms the NTSB has “identified the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder”, both of which suffered exterior heat damage. “These recorders are built for that,” Inman says.
SDF said on 5 November: "The airfield is open and SDF has resumed nearly normal aircraft operations.”
