The National Transportation Safety Board began its first full day of on-site investigation Thursday into Tuesday’s crash of a UPS McDonnell Douglas MD-11 freighter in Louisville, Kentucky. NTSB Member Todd Inman, who is leading the agency’s response, said more than 30 investigators are now at the scene alongside local and federal partners. Inman expressed condolences to victims’ families and survivors, emphasizing that recovery efforts remain the top priority while investigative work continues.
Earlier Thursday morning, Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg confirmed that there are now 12 fatalities following the crash, with nine additional people still missing.
Preliminary Data and Recorder Findings
Inman said the NTSB has obtained preliminary ADS-B flight data showing the aircraft’s last recorded altitude at 475 feet and speed at 183 knots at 5:13 p.m. local time, seconds before impact. The information will be combined with data from the flight recorders to build a detailed timeline of events leading up to the crash.
Early analysis so far indicates that the aircraft was briefly airborne before it collided with structures beyond the airport perimeter, consistent with initial reports that the left engine detached during takeoff.
Cockpit Voice Recorder (left) and Flight Data Recorder (right) recovered from the wreckage of UPS Flight 2976, a MD-11F cargo aircraft that crashed near Louisville, Kentucky. pic.twitter.com/eaNaNYskyO
— NTSB Newsroom (@NTSB_Newsroom) November 6, 2025
Chihoon Shin, the NTSB’s investigator in charge, told reporters that both the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder were successfully downloaded at the agency’s Recorders Laboratory in Washington, D.C. The flight data recorder contained about 63 hours of information over 24 flights, while the cockpit voice recorder captured two hours of audio including the accident flight. Inman said the recordings will be transcribed in the coming days, adding that the audio itself will not be released.
Engine and Maintenance Review
Investigators recovered several pieces of engine debris, including fan blades and the main component of the number one engine, during a foreign object debris walk on runway 17R. The materials have been secured for further analysis.
Inman said maintenance records are being reviewed from a six-week period from September to mid-October, when the aircraft was parked in San Antonio. The NTSB is also reviewing additional CCTV footage from the airport. Based on current information from UPS, he said, no recent maintenance issues were reported before the flight.
Inman said the investigation remains in its early stages and that the agency is coordinating closely with the FAA, Boeing, UPS, and labor representatives under the NTSB’s party process. Additional specialists in vehicle performance and materials engineering have joined the effort as the team begins mapping the debris field and reconstructing components.
“We will do everything we need to find out what happened and to figure out how to keep it from happening again,” Inman said.
Further updates are expected as additional findings become available.
Engine fell off. Pilots could not control aircraft with remaining two engines. Do you really need to know more?
Yeah…lots lots more. How about a thorough analysis to determine exactly WHY the engine fell off and what can be done to prevent this from happening in the future?
John, if you look closely at the footage from the individual in the tug, you can clearly see the number 2 engine compressor stalling. This means effectively they were flying on 1 engine which the airplane is not capable of full of fuel and cargo. Its very pretentious, reckless, and disrespectful of you to speak ill of the crew when knowing nothing factual about this accident. I must ask, why did you bother posting such an accusatory comment?
Thank you for this for I was going to same the same ‘why did you bother posting such an accusatory comment?’.
It fascinates me how some can jump on a forum and spit out nonsense with no thought to it at all.
Initial thought, questioning events will happen, but I accept the the NTSB is doing everything possible to determine both root cause and final moments.
Past that, I was not aware of the compression stall indications in the center engine, but that seems common sense for why it just could not stay in the air, fire not withstanding.
I am curious, with the amount of fire coming from the left wing that close to the fuselage, could it be the center engine was losing air enough to cause the compression stalls, like super heated air getting ingested drastically reduced power on the center engine.
Similar to the 1979 DC-10 crash, even if they had full power on two engines, either the fire was destroying left wing controls or hydraulics were so compromised that lift was lost on the left wing starting the roll to the left you can see in another video just before the wing hits obstructions and drags it down. This plane was never going to be saved.
My deepest feelings to the families of all effected by this crash. If the root cause rests with humans, may they be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
Great, professional report. Thank you!
I immediately thought of the 1979 DC-10 crash at O’Hare and wondered if mismanagement of mating the engine/pylon to the wing will be proven to be the culprit.
Well said. Patton should find some other area to troll.
John is obviously not in the industry. So much more to discuss.
As a Navy mishap investigator with a great deal experience, the question for me is this - was the aircraft truly airworthy.
I only have limited information, but when the former Sr. Director at ST Enginnering stated they found cracks and corrosion and “addressed” those, it leaves me with a notion of skepticism.
First, structural cracks are significant and if there were cracks in the engine pylon structure, connectors, etc., even so-called repair may not be sufficient enough to place the acft in an airworthy stauts.
Even though the acft flew 28 flights before the mishap, the stress from those flights could caused failure in the repaired cracks.
Airplanes a designed to have some elasticity, but harmonic effects fron this condition can be factor in structural failure.
In my judgment, I’m not sure this acft should have returned to flying status. But, the pressure to see the equipment operational may have pushed good judgment over the line.
Again, I’m speculating that the mishap was perventable based on my comment regarding the questionable airworthyness of this acft.
Mark Denari
CAPT & Naval Aviator USN (ret)