Engine Of Crashed UPS Cargo Plane Fell Off During Takeoff In Louisville, Black Boxes Recovered

Last Updated:November 06, 2025, 08:16 IST

A UPS cargo plane crashed near Louisville after its left engine caught fire and detached during takeoff, killing 11 people. Investigators have recovered the flight’s black boxes.

Engine detached from the UPS flight (L)/The UPS flight crash scene (R) (Images: AP/Social Media)

As the investigations into the cargo plane crash, which killed 11 people in the southern United States, progress, it has now been revealed that one of the engines of the UPS flight detached during takeoff after catching fire.

According to AFP, the Transportation Safety Board sent teams to Louisville to investigate the accident.

Later, NTSB member Todd Inman told reporters that investigators had reviewed closed-circuit airport footage “which shows the left engine detaching from the wing during the take-off roll."

While the plane crashed and destroyed or damaged multiple buildings, leaving a fiery debris field nearly half a mile (800 meters) long, its left engine remained “on the airfield," Inman said.

Meanwhile, photos circulating on social media showed an engine detached from a plane, believed to be the crashed UPS flight.

CRASHED CARGO FLIGHT’S BLACK BOXES RECOVERED

Inman added that the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder, known as a plane’s black boxes, have been identified and will be sent to Washington for analysis.

According to WLKY, the CBS-affiliated television station for Louisville, Kentucky, a video showed the left engine ablaze as the aircraft tried to lift off.

Later, Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said on X that aviation officials had reopened a runway.

Airport spokesman Jonathan Bevin was quoted as saying that the cargo flight “went down three miles (five kilometres) south of the airfield" after taking off.

The plane, filled with some 38,000 gallons of fuel for the long-haul flight to Hawaii, narrowly missed a major Ford vehicle assembly plant that employs some 3,000 people, adjacent to the UPS Worldport facility.

THE UPS FLIGHT CRASH

The McDonnell Douglas MD-11, operated by package delivery giant UPS and bound for Hawaii, crashed at 5.15 pm (2215 GMT) on Tuesday, shortly after departing from Louisville Muhammad Ali Airport.

It exploded into flames as it ploughed into businesses adjacent to the airport, killing multiple people on the ground. A three-person crew was aboard.

The death toll in the tragedy increased to 11 on Wednesday.

It was reportedly the deadliest in the global package delivery giant’s history. Its main hub, Worldport, is in Louisville, where it employs thousands of people.

UPS has halted package sorting operations at its facility.

According to the Transportation Safety Board, the plane was built in 1991 and was modified into a cargo aircraft. McDonnell Douglas merged with Boeing in 1996.

Boeing, the US aviation giant which has experienced multiple fatal crashes and safety incidents in the past decade, said in a statement that “we stand ready to support our customer and have offered technical assistance to the NTSB."

UPS travels to more than 200 countries via nearly 2,000 daily flights, with a fleet of 516 aircraft. It owns 294 of those planes and hires the rest.

The crash comes amid the longest government shutdown in US history, with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warning of “mass chaos" due to a lack of air traffic control staff.

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