🔗 Share this article

No fewer than nine people lost their lives and 11 left injured following a UPS cargo plane crashed while taking off from an international airport in Louisville, Kentucky on Tuesday night.

Aircraft specialists suggest the plane crashed due to a single engine malfunctioned and another appeared to be damaged during take-off.

The exact cause remains unknown why the aircraft failed, prompting a huge explosion to ignite after it couldn't become airborne from the runway. Footage showed fire had already engulfed a single wing of the aircraft while it was attempting to take off, which may have spread across the aircraft and triggered the blast, or the jet could have caught fire after colliding with ground-based obstacles.

What is apparent is that the 38,000 gallons of fuel on board the trijet aircraft required for the journey likely escalated the fire, which rapidly extended to multiple structures beyond the runway and continued burning for hours.

How did it start?

The shipping giant uses the Louisville air hub as a logistics center for its worldwide network and its designated flight was beginning of a 4,300 mile journey to Hawaii's capital when the cargo plane initiated departure.

Tracking information from flight monitoring services shows the plane began to taxi along the designated runway at around 17:15 local time and attained a top speed of 344km/h.

However, confirmed videos shows that when the plane reached this speed a fire had completely engulfed its port side and the plane couldn't climb before the enormous detonation.

Officials activated a local safety directive to area inhabitants and scrambled hundreds of firefighters to the scene.

Governor Andy Beshear verified details visible in security camera recordings that depict the plane traveling just metres off the ground before a bright flash engulfed the plane. It is then seen slamming into the terrain as a huge fireball erupts around it about a minute after departure.

Authenticated footage taken by drivers on adjacent roads displayed the flames erupting into the skyline while later videos showed smoke pouring from the area.

Aerial images shown on regional news outlets showed wreckage scattering across the airstrip and landing on the roofs of at least two local businesses.

What could have caused the crash?

ATC transmissions examined are largely garbled and filled with static so no meaningful conversation can be discerned about the crash as it developed.

However, experts proposed that a catastrophic malfunction of multiple engines may have been responsible for the disaster.

The trijet cargo aircraft uses three engines. Two are installed under the wings, and a third is built into the tail at the bottom of the tail fin.

Footage confirmed revealed a fire consuming the left wing of the plane, which then leaned leftward as it attempted to gain lift and become airborne.

Multiple specialists independently suggested the portside engine may have detached from the plane following a technical or physical breakdown.

Additional photographs taken after the crash displayed a charred engine resting on the grass next to the runway.

A retired airline pilot and aircraft safety specialist said that it was "almost unheard of" for an powerplant to separate in flight.

He referenced the 1979 aviation disaster tragedy, in which 273 individuals were killed when the plane's engine detached as it took off from O'Hare International Airport. Engine components had been damaged when it was replaced on the plane, but the expert stated it was premature to determine whether a similar fault caused the powerplant separation on the MD-11.

The expert explained the cargo plane would have been able to fly with just two engines but the destruction caused by the fire on the left wing was probably extensive enough it resulted in the aircraft's remaining engine to fail to produce power.

"With such a catastrophic event we cannot know what other damage was caused when the powerplant separated," he said.

A different aircraft specialist said the video evidence seemed to indicate the third engine had been compromised because it released smoke. The damage could have occurred while it was struck by wreckage from the fire and the powerplant separation.

"The upper engine that expelled a puff of smoke seems to shut down right after," the expert stated. "That left only the right engine producing thrust, creating a significant thrust asymmetry and leaving the aircraft unable to achieve altitude.

"Losing two engines during take-off leaves the aircraft with only a fraction of its thrust and little chance of staying airborne, especially at full departure mass," the specialist added.

Why did the crash cause such damage?

Footage from the aftermath showed a scene of complete chaos with multiple fires burning across a extensive area of the site and smoke billowing into the sky.

The plane, which was three decades old and had been operated for passenger travel before conversion, had already completed one round trip from Louisville to the East Coast on the same day.

Authorities haven't verified which goods was on board the flight bound for Hawaii, though authorities said the aircraft didn't contain anything that would pose an increased danger of environmental hazard.

"This involved extended freight transport from Kentucky to Hawaii, so the trijet was transporting a lot of jet fuel," an expert said. "That heavy fuel load not only diminished capability but also accounts for the massive explosion seen after the crash."

Authorities told reporters that the plane was transporting 144,000 litres of jet fuel for the extended trip when it crashed. The blaze was likely amplified on the ground because the plane crashed into a fuel processing facility next to the airport.

A specialist said authorities will concentrate on the origin of the blaze, and "if wreckage hit the centre engine, and whether earlier maintenance on the portside powerplant played a role." The expert continued: "Atmospheric conditions were favorable, so environmental factors are improbable."

The National Transportation Safety Board has dispatched personnel to the site and will take charge of the investigation into the causes of the crash, though this can take up to two years to finalize.