🔗 Share this article

At least nine people lost their lives and 11 left injured following a UPS cargo plane crashed while taking off from a major air hub in Kentucky's largest city on Tuesday evening.

Aviation experts suggest the plane crashed after one engine failed and another appeared to be damaged during take-off.

It is unclear why the aircraft failed, prompting a massive fireball to erupt after it failed to take-off from the airstrip. Footage showed flames were consuming a single wing of the aircraft while it was attempting to take off, potentially spreading across the aircraft and triggered the blast, or the plane might have ignited upon hitting ground-based obstacles.

What is apparent is that the 144,000 litres of fuel on board the trijet aircraft required for the journey likely escalated the blaze, which quickly spread to multiple structures past the airstrip and continued burning for hours.

What initiated the incident?

The shipping giant operates from the Louisville air hub as a logistics center for its worldwide network and its designated flight was at the start of a 4,300 mile journey to Honolulu in Hawaii when the cargo plane attempted to take off.

Data from FlightRadar24 shows the plane started moving along the designated runway at around 17:15 local time and attained a top speed of 214mph.

However, confirmed videos demonstrate that when the plane reached this speed a blaze had fully consumed its left wing and the plane couldn't climb before the massive explosion.

Authorities issued a shelter-in-place order to area inhabitants and dispatched hundreds of firefighters to the scene.

Governor Andy Beshear confirmed particulars seen in CCTV footage that depict the plane traveling just feet above the surface before a intense light engulfed the plane. It is then observed crashing onto the terrain as a huge fireball ignites surrounding it about a minute after departure.

A verified clip recorded by motorists on a nearby highway showed the flames erupting into the skyline while subsequent recordings showed smoke billowing from the scene.

Aerial images broadcast by local media depicted wreckage scattering across the airstrip and falling onto the roofs of at least two local businesses.

Potential causes of the accident

ATC transmissions reviewed are largely garbled and filled with static so no meaningful conversation can be heard about the crash as it unfolded.

But analysts suggested that a dramatic failure of multiple engines may have been the cause of the disaster.

The MD-11 transport plane uses three powerplants. Two are mounted under the wings, and a third is built into the rear section at the base of the vertical stabilizer.

Video verified revealed a fire consuming the left wing of the aircraft, which then tilted to the left as it attempted to gain lift and take-off.

Multiple specialists independently suggested the left engine may have separated from the plane after suffering from a mechanical or structural failure.

Additional photographs taken after the crash displayed a burned powerplant resting on the grass next to the runway.

A retired airline pilot and aviation safety expert said that it was "extremely rare" for an powerplant to separate during operation.

The expert recalled the 1979 American Airlines Flight 191 tragedy, in which 273 people were fatally injured after the aircraft's powerplant separated as it departed from O'Hare International Airport. Engine components had been compromised when it was replaced on the plane, but the expert said it was premature to determine whether a similar fault caused the powerplant separation on the MD-11.

The expert explained the cargo plane would have been able to fly with only two powerplants but the damage caused by the wing blaze was probably extensive enough it resulted in the plane's third engine to fail to produce power.

"With such a catastrophic event we cannot determine additional destruction was done when the engine came adrift," he said.

Another aviation expert observed the footage appeared to show the remaining powerplant had been compromised because it released smoke. The issue could have happened while it was pelted with debris from the fire and the powerplant separation.

"The tail-mounted powerplant that expelled a puff of smoke appears to wind down right after," the specialist stated. "That left only the starboard powerplant producing thrust, creating a severe power imbalance and making the plane incapable to achieve altitude.

"Failing two powerplants while departing leaves the aircraft with only a fraction of its thrust and little chance of maintaining flight, particularly under maximum take-off weight," the expert continued.

Reasons for extensive destruction

Post-accident videos showed a scene of complete chaos with multiple fires burning across a extensive area of the site and smoke rising upward.

The plane, which was 34 years old and had been used as a passenger plane before conversion, had previously made one round trip from the Kentucky hub to the East Coast on Tuesday.

Authorities haven't verified which goods was on board the Hawaii-bound aircraft, though authorities said the plane was not carrying anything that would pose an increased danger of environmental hazard.

"This was a long-haul cargo flight from Kentucky to Hawaii, so the MD-11 was carrying a lot of jet fuel," a specialist said. "The substantial fuel quantity not only reduced performance but also explains the large fireball seen after the crash."

Officials told reporters that the aircraft was transporting 38,000 gallons of jet fuel for the extended trip when it went down. The fire was likely amplified on the ground because the plane crashed into a fuel recycling business adjacent to the airfield.

The expert said investigators will now focus on the origin of the blaze, and "if wreckage hit the central powerplant, and whether earlier maintenance on the portside powerplant played a role." He added: "Atmospheric conditions were favorable, so weather-related causes are improbable."

The National Transportation Safety Board has dispatched personnel to the site and will take charge of the investigation into the accident's origins, though this can take up to two years to finalize.