A spokesperson for UPS confirmed that Worldport’s goal is to begin returning the network to a normal Next Day Air cadence with flights arriving at their destinations Thursday morning.
A UPS cargo plane’s left wing caught fire and an engine fell off just before it crashed and exploded after takeoff in Louisville, a federal investigator said Wednesday.
After being cleared for takeoff, a large fire developed in the left wing, said Todd Inman, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board, which is leading the investigation.
The plane gained enough altitude to clear the fence at the end of the runway before crashing off airport property, Inman told reporters.
Airport security video “shows the left engine detaching from the wing during the takeoff roll,” he said. The engine was discovered on the airfield, part of a debris trail spread over half a mile.
Inman also said the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder have been recovered.
The McDonnell Douglas MD-11, made in 1991, crashed about 5:15 p.m. Tuesday as it was departing for Honolulu from Louisville's Muhammad Ali International Airport, the Federal Aviation Administration reported.
Video showed flames on the plane's left wing and a trail of smoke. The plane then lifted slightly off the ground before crashing and exploding in a huge fireball. Video also revealed portions of a building’s shredded roof next to the end of the runway.
Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg confirmed that the aircraft was carrying 280,000 gallons of fuel, and that the fire continued to burn on Wednesday.
A nearby business, Kentucky Petroleum Recycling, appeared to be “hit pretty directly,” which may have contributed to the size of the fireball. A nearby auto parts operation was also affected. He said the crash narrowly missed a restaurant bar, a Ford plant, and the city’s convention center that was hosting a livestock show.
Over 200 emergency workers responded to the crash Tuesday night.
One issue facing emergency officials is that they don't know how many victims they're actually looking for. They said 16 families had gathered at a reunification center for news of loved ones.
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.
A shelter-in-place order was issued Tuesday for a one-mile radius of the airport, with a warning not to breathe smoke or handle debris from the crash. By Wednesday morning, that was reduced to a quarter-mile radius, as officials monitored the air quality.
UPS’s largest package handling facility is in Louisville. Their Worldhub center employs twenty thousand workers, has 300 daily flights and sorts more than 400,000 packages an hour. Their complement of aircraft includes 27 of the MD-11s, along with five other types of planes..
On Wednesday, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear ordered flags to be lowered to half-staff to honor the victims of the crash.
Louisville's Muhammad Ali Airport on Wednesday (AP Photo Jon Cherry)
On the Net:
More AP coverage of Louisville jet crash
