Copyright Anchorage Daily News
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A UPS cargo plane’s left wing caught fire and an engine fell off just before it crashed and exploded after takeoff in Kentucky, a federal investigator said Wednesday, offering the first official details about a disaster that killed at least 11 people, including a child. First responders, meanwhile, searched for more victims, a day after the crash at UPS Worldport, the company’s global aviation hub in Louisville. It created an inferno that consumed the enormous aircraft and spread to nearby businesses. 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 just outside Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport, Inman told reporters. Airport security video “shows the left engine detaching from the wing during the takeoff roll,” he said. The cockpit voice recorder and data recorder were recovered, and the engine was discovered on the airfield, Inman said. “There are a lot of different parts of this airplane in a lot of different places,” he said, describing a debris field that stretched for half a mile. A chain reaction The plane with three people aboard crashed about 5:15 p.m. Tuesday as it was departing for Honolulu from UPS Worldport at the Louisville airport. The crash had a ripple effect, striking and causing smaller explosions at Kentucky Petroleum Recycling and hitting an auto salvage yard, Grade A Auto Parts. Gov. Andy Beshear said the child who died was with a parent at the parts business. He earlier said it was a “blessing” that the plane did not hit a nearby Ford Motor factory or the convention center. U.S. Rep. Morgan McGarvey, D-Ky., praised firefighters who rushed headfirst to the disaster scene, describing it as “hotter than hell and raining down oil.” Some people who heard the boom, saw the smoke and smelled burning fuel were still stunned a day later. “I didn’t know if we were getting attacked. I didn’t know what was going on,” said Summer Dickerson, who works nearby. The number of victims is unclear Beshear again predicted the death toll would grow, noting that 16 families had gathered at a reunification center for news of loved ones. “I don’t know how many victims we’re actually looking for,” said Mark Little, chief of the Okolona Fire District in Louisville. “That’s one of the issues, and the debris zone is so large. Some of that debris is going to have to be moved and searched underneath. It will take us quite awhile.” University of Louisville Hospital said two people were in critical condition in the burn unit Wednesday. Eighteen people were treated and discharged at that hospital or other health care centers. The airport is 7 miles from downtown Louisville, close to the Indiana state line, residential areas, a water park and museums. The airport resumed operations on Wednesday, with at least one runway open. Beshear said he didn’t know the status of the three UPS crew members aboard the McDonnell Douglas MD-11 made in 1991. It wasn’t clear if they were being counted among the dead. ‘We all know somebody who works at UPS’ UPS said it was “terribly saddened.” The Louisville package handling facility is the company’s largest. The hub employs more than 20,000 people in the region, handles 300 flights daily and sorts more than 400,000 packages an hour. “We all know somebody who works at UPS,” Louisville Metro Council member Betsy Ruhe said. The governor said The Team Kentucky Emergency Relief Fund, typically used to help people in natural disasters, is accepting donations to help with funeral expenses and other hardships. “In Kentucky, we grieve together and we support one another,” Beshear said. Hoping for information about missing loved ones Eric Richardson stood outside a police training academy, where people gathered waiting for word of their missing loved ones Tuesday night. He said his girlfriend, who had been at a metal recycling business near the explosion, wasn’t answering her phone. Her phone’s live location said she was still there. Bobby Whelan, Richardson’s friend, had been in front of her in line, but had left minutes before the explosion. “We don’t even want to think about anything but the best,” Whelan said. “All our friends were there.” Tom Brooks Jr., who runs a recycling business, said the crash “just rocked the whole place.” Destyn Mitchell was working as a host at an Outback restaurant close to the airport when she heard a loud boom. “People who just sat down to eat got up and left in under 30 minutes and packed up their food because they wanted to hurry up and get home,” she said. What happened to the plane? Flight records show the plane was on the ground in San Antonio from Sept. 3 to Oct. 18. Jeff Guzzetti, a former federal crash investigator, said a number of different things could have caused the fire as the UPS plane was rolling down the runway. “It could have been the engine partially coming off and ripping out fuel lines. Or it could have been a fuel leak igniting and then burning the engine off. It’s just too soon to tell,” said Guzzetti who investigated crashes for the NTSB and the Federal Aviation Administration. He said the crash bears a lot of similarities to a crash in 1979 when the left engine fell off an American Airlines jet as it was departing Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, killing 273 people. Guzzetti said this UPS plane and the American plane were equipped with the same General Electric engines. The 1979 crash involved a DC-10, but the MD-11 UPS plane is based on the DC-10. ___
