Engine Detached From UPS Plane Before Fatal Kentucky Crash

The left engine came off a doomed United Parcel Service Inc. freighter moments before it crashed in a fireball near the company’s global hub in Kentucky, killing at least 12 people.

Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said on X that the death toll had reached a dozen and said several people were still unaccounted for.

Earlier, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said the accident site was “moving from a rescue to a recovery mode. We do not expect to find anyone else alive in the area,” he told reporters.

The fuel-laden, Honolulu-bound McDonnell Douglas MD-11 climbed high enough to clear a fence at the end of the runway at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport, but then the aircraft plunged into terrain and buildings outside of the facility’s perimeter, National Transportation Safety Board official Todd Inman said at a separate briefing Wednesday.

Inman said the engine seen in photographs laying on the airfield is likely the left-side engine, which would correlate with a separate video the NTSB has watched showing the powerplant detaching from the plane. The resulting crash left behind a sprawling field of debris, fires and smoke.

The NTSB has located cockpit voice and flight data recorders from the aircraft, Inman added. The bright-orange devices, commonly referred to as a jet’s black box, provide crucial information as to the final moments of the flight and pilot operations.

The crash comes at a time of widespread air travel disruptions across America caused by air traffic controller shortages since the US government shutdown began Oct. 1. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Wednesday that US air capacity will be cut by 10% at 40 high-volume locations starting Friday to alleviate strain on the aviation system.

Tuesday’s incident adds to a deadly year for global aviation. Just three weeks ago, a cargo plane skidded off the runway and into the sea at Hong Kong International Airport, killing two ground crew. In June, 241 people died on an Air India flight that crashed just after takeoff, and in January a US Army helicopter with an American Airlines Group Inc. regional jet on approach to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport near Washington.

UPS noted the incident in a securities filing released Tuesday, saying it does not believe the event will materially impact the company’s financial position, results of operations or cash flow.

On Wednesday, UPS canceled second-day air service package-sorting operations at the facility 鈥� its largest hub known as Worldport 鈥� after halting the work right after the crash.

“Our heartfelt thoughts are with everyone involved,” the parcel-delivery company in a statement Tuesday, adding that it was assisting in the investigation. In a released late Wednesday, Chief Executive Officer Carol Tome said the company is committed to safety. UPS hasn’t confirmed whether its staff are among the fatalities.

Boeing Co., which took over McDonnell Douglas in 1997, said it is offering technical assistance to the NTSB. The company said it will “work tirelessly” with state and local authorities on response efforts.

Flight tracking website Flightradar24 the 34-year-old aircraft, designated as UPS Flight 2976, reaching takeoff speeds and climbing to around 175 feet (53 meters) before plummeting to the ground.

The jet flew from Louisville to San Antonio on Sept. 3, and didn’t return until Oct. 18, the data showed. The MD-11 had flown on a near-daily basis since then.

The aircraft involved in Tuesday’s accident was originally built for Thai Airways International in the early 1990s before being converted into a freighter about 20 years ago for UPS. The plane was powered by three General Electric Co. CF6 engines.

The aircraft was parked from Sept. 3 to Oct. 18 in San Antonio, Texas, where it has undergone maintenance in the past. VT San Antonio Aerospace, a unit of ST Aerospace, was contracted to conduct the so-called heavy maintenance on the aircraft, according to data from Cirium.

The DC-11 model is now only flown by cargo operators, having conducted its last passenger flight more than a decade ago.

Other accidents involving UPS operations include UPS Flight 6 in September 2010, when a Boeing 747-400F crashed near Dubai after it experienced an in-flight cargo fire, killing both crew members.

In August 2013, an Airbus SE A300-600F crashed short of the runway in Birmingham, Alabama, killing the captain and first officer. fatigue, pilot error and subsequent aircraft instability as probable causes for that crash.

Photo: Fire and smoke mark where a UPS cargo plane crashed near Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport on Nov. 4. (Stephen Cohen/Getty Images)