Louisville plane crash

RandomGuyFromIN · 2025-11-04T18:04:15-0500

Plane crashes at Louisville's airport, injuries reported

Breaking news: Officials are responding to reports of a plane crash near UPS Worldport.

wlky.com

Just south of Louisville International Airport and Ford Louisville Assembly Plant. Multiple agencies on scene.

UPS aircraft crashed on takeoff.

I don't know exact unit numbers, but Okolona, Fairdale, Louisville, Fern Creek, Pleasure Ridge Park, Jeffersontown, and Shepherdsville FD's, Louisville Metro Police and EMS, Michelin-ASRC Fire Brigade, Louisville Airport Authority ARFF, and Kentucky Air National Guard ARFF on scene.

UPDATE: Departments from Bullitt, Shelby, and Nelson Counties and Lexington, KY also sending units. Metro Police being assisted by the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, KSP, and the Shively and St. Matthews police departments

entropychaser · 2025-11-04T19:20:19-0500

This MD-11 suffered a No. 1 (left) engine fire just after the abort point on takeoff. It got up to about 175 feet at less than 200 knots.

After that there was no place to go.

FFM1938 · 2025-11-04T19:32:13-0500

entropychaser said:
This MD-11 suffered a No. 1 (left) engine fire just after the abort point on takeoff. It got up to about 175 feet at less than 200 knots.

After that there was no place to go.

Fully loaded for Honolulu no less, thats 8+ hours of fuel at a minimum plus everything that goes to the islands themselves and onward. Heavy, heavy bird.

Condolences to the crews families and those on the ground, certainly doesnt look good.

ExChief-551 · 2025-11-04T19:54:37-0500

Currently at a 4th Alarm according to reports. Collapse of one building.

LaurenSkye · 2025-11-04T20:12:03-0500

ExChief-551 said:
Currently at a 4th Alarm according to reports. Collapse of one building.

From what I understand the 4th Alarm is just county fire units. There's also Louisville Fire has some trucks, plus Airport, plus HazMat and foam trucks from various departments.

LaurenSkye · 2025-11-04T20:14:12-0500

FFM1938 said:
Fully loaded for Honolulu no less, thats 8+ hours of fuel at a minimum plus everything that goes to the islands themselves and onward. Heavy, heavy bird.

Condolences to the crews families and those on the ground, certainly doesnt look good.

UPS reports the jet had 200-250 thousand gallons of fuel

ExChief-551 · 2025-11-04T20:22:25-0500

Interesting listening to the TAC channel they are operating on.

BK_1253 · 2025-11-04T20:45:51-0500

LaurenSkye said:
UPS reports the jet had 200-250 thousand gallons of fuel

It'll be 200-250,000 pounds of fuel. JetA weighs 6.75 pounds per gallon, and MTOW of an MD-11 is 630,000 pounds. Still, that's a lot of fuel. The plane also appears to have hit a used oil recycling business with several large tanks. Hopefully everyone working at the many businesses in the area hit the road at 5 on the dot and got home safe.

LaurenSkye · 2025-11-04T20:56:43-0500

Here's cell phone video taken near the crash shortly after the explosion

53K views · 501 reactions | Video shows an up-close look at the explosion from a UPS plane crash at Louisville International Airport. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said there are at least three fatalities and 11 injuries from the crash, but he believe

Video shows an up-close look at the explosion from a UPS plane crash at Louisville International Airport. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said there are at least three fatalities and 11 injuries from...

www.facebook.com

BK_1253 · 2025-11-04T20:59:13-0500

entropychaser said:
This MD-11 suffered a No. 1 (left) engine fire just after the abort point on takeoff. It got up to about 175 feet at less than 200 knots.

After that there was no place to go.

Pictures are showing up online of an engine core alongside the runway. It looks like the No. 1 engine separated from the aircraft completely, so that fire was likely fuel gushing from the pylon if it didn't depart with the engine, or from the tanks themselves if it did. I won't be surprised if we learn one or both of the other engines were damaged...No. 2 in the tail can catch debris if 1 or 3 have an uncontained failure or depart the airframe altogether. There was a 767 doing a check run up to full thrust after maintenance that had a turbine disk rupture. One part of the disk was found something like 2000 ft away, and another had gone right through the fuselage and lodged itself in the other engine.

It's a sad day for UPS. There was nothing those pilots could do to save it.