The National Transportation Safety Board on Thursday released new details about the Nov. 4 UPS plane crash in Louisville, Kentucky, providing evidence in a preliminary report that the aircraft possessed “fatigue cracks” and “fractures.”
Federal investigators said they found cracks in the left wing’s engine mount of the 34-year-old cargo plane, which was not yet due for a detailed inspection. Its last inspection was in October 2021.
Moments before the accident, the UPS plane only lifted 30 feet off the ground as it began rotating, and the left wing caught fire. The crash occurred near Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport, killing the three pilots and 11 people on the ground. Another 23 people were injured.
The NTSB released six still frames of the airport’s surveillance footage showing the progression of the airplane catching on fire above the runway.
“The airplane cleared the blast fence beyond the end of runway 17R, but the left main landing gear impacted the roof of a UPS Supply Chain Solutions warehouse at the southern edge of the airport,” the investigative agency wrote in the preliminary report. “The airplane then impacted a storage yard and two additional buildings, including a petroleum recycling facility, and was mostly consumed by fire.”
One day after the fiery crash, NTSB board member J. Todd Inman arrived on scene to oversee the collection of evidence. The agency said it recovered the engine and pylon that fell off the plane’s left wing and the cockpit voice recorder, which captured an alarm on the plane amid the chaos.
The plane model in question is a McDonnell Douglas MD-11 airliner, which accounts for about 9% of the UPS fleet. In response to the accident, the Federal Aviation Administration grounded all MD-11 aircraft after UPS and FedEx grounded their MD-11 fleets out of caution.
Authorities previously identified the 14 victims as Capt. Dana Diamond, 62, Capt. Richard Wartenberg, 57, First Officer Lee Truitt, 45, Angela Anderson, 45, Carlos Fernandez, 52, Trinadette “Trina” Chavez, 37, Tony Crain, 65, John Loucks, 52, John Spray, 45, Matthew Sweets, 37, Ella Petty Whorton, 31, Megan Washburn, 35, Louisnes Fedon, 47, and Fedon’s 3-year-old granddaughter Kimberly Asa.
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The NTSB invited the FAA, UPS, the Boeing Company, the Independent Pilots Association, General Electric Aerospace, and the Teamsters Airline Division to participate in the inquiry.
The NTSB investigation into the crash remains ongoing. A final report is expected to be released in the next 18 to 24 months.
, 2025-11-20 22:05:00, 
, Washington Examiner, %%https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/cropped-favicon.png?w=32, https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/feed/, David Zimmermann
