New images show the moment an engine fell off a UPS plane before it crashed, killing 14 people in Kentucky.
Federal investigators released the dramatic photos while revealing that they found evidence of cracks in the left wing’s engine mount.
Additional footage of the crash helped the National Transportation Safety Board determine that the plane’s left engine detached from the aircraft during takeoff.
The plane slammed into the ground, tearing a hole through the roof of a UPS warehouse before exploding in a fireball at the airport.
Three flight crew members, a local business owner, and a grandfather and his granddaughter who were “in the wrong place, at the wrong time” were among the 14 dead following the November 4 crash, the deadliest in the company’s history.
The MD-11 plane only got 30 feet (9.1 meters) off the ground, the NTSB said, citing the flight data recorder in its first formal but preliminary report about the disaster in Louisville, Kentucky.
The NTSB said the plane was not due yet for a detailed inspection of key engine mount parts that had fractures. It still needed to complete nearly 7,000 more takeoffs and landings. It was last examined in October 2021.
“It appears UPS was conducting this maintenance within the required time frame, but I’m sure the FAA is now going to ponder whether that time frame is adequate,” aviation safety expert Jeff Guzzetti told The Associated Press after reading the report.
A series of photos released by the NTSB shows the left engine coming off the UPS plane and flying up and over the wing as it rolled down the runway. The final image shows the plane slightly airborne with left wing ablaze.
Earlier this week, Bill Moore, president of UPS Airlines, an arm of UPS, said the company is working with investigators to determine the “root cause” of the crash.
“Once we determine that, then they’ll be able to develop an inspection plan,” Moore said at a news conference in Louisville. “Can we inspect it? If so, how do we repair it? How do we put it back together? And then eventually return the fleet to service. But that’s not going to happen quickly.”
UPS said it has grounded its fleet of MD-11s and is using other aircraft during the busy holiday season.
