Louisville plane crash

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Sep 16, 2024
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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
 
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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.
 
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.
 
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
 
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.
 
Here's cell phone video taken near the crash shortly after the explosion
 
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.
 
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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.
The pics coming in today are very haunting. Shades of AA191 at O'Hare in 1979. There are also rumors the accident aircraft was delayed 2hrs for maintenance on the same engine thats now on the side of the runway.

What an awful event for all involved.
 
It appears that the pilot/plane had reached V1 which is the take-off/abort point, different for all planes. Below it you can safely abort your take-off, above it you are committed to take off, you do not have enough room to stop.
 
Run card compiled by Kameron Brown and published on Mike Legeros' Legeros Fire Line on Facebook:

Kameron Brown compiled this run card from last night's cargo plane crash + commercial building(s) + petroleum recycling facility just off runway at Louisville International Airport. He posted as a comment in our master thread. See links at bottom that include Part 1 and Part 2 of radio recordings.
Note the number of departments with foam resources. That's due to the many distilleries in the state.
COUNTS BY TYPE
ARFF crash trucks - 6
Bat Chiefs - 10
Other Chiefs - 18
Engines - 35
Foam Trailers - 4
Foam Resources, Other - 3
Fuel Trucks - 1
Haz-Mat Units - 9
Ladder Trucks - 14 Quint designation + 2 Trucks/TBD Aerials
Rehab - 1
Rescues - 5 (but not ARFF units, also Rescue designation)
Tankers - 2 (or more?)
Utility Units - 4
AIRPORT FIRE DEPARTMENTS
Louisville International Airport - R46, R47, R48, C1, C2
Air National Guard - R68, R61, R62, R65
JEFFERSON COUNTY
Okolona (first-due + incident command) - C75, C76, C77, BC76, Q76, E77, E78, Q78, E177, E178, U576, U578, Foam Trailer, R76, HM78
Fern Creek - C60, E65, E62, E73, BC71, E71, Q66, HM66, TNK64
Louisville - E10, E20, E1, HM1, E15, T8, Q9, BC3, BC5, C4, C5, Rehab 12, BC2, R2, A9, E19, HM19, DCN19, E18, E16, Fuel Wagon, Q7, R11, C3, BC10, BC11, C1, T1, E21, HM21
Pleasure Ridge Park - C85, C87, BC87, E93, Q86, Q87, E90, HM90, E88, R88, Foam Trailer
Fairdale - E81, E82, BC81, C80, C82, C83, E83, U581
Jeffersontown - C51, Q52, E53, HM53, Q51, BC51, S51, E54
Anchorage Middletown - Q31, HM31, R33, E39, HM39, S230
St. Matthews - E48
American Synthetic Fire Brigade / Michelin (parent company) - E_ - Likely Engine 1 as a 2011 International DuraStar 4400 / 2014 Ferrara (1500/1000/30F), from Fire Wiki
Dow Chemical Fire Brigade - Likely Squirt 99, a 1996 Freightliner FL80/National Foam 1250/250/500F/54' Squrt
OUTSIDE COUNTIES
Shepherdsville (Bullitt) - C91, C92, Q92, Q94, E93, Foam Trailer
Zoneton (Bullitt) - Q79, E84, C81, U82, Forestry 82
Mount Washington (Bullitt) - E35, Q36
Nichols (Bullitt) - _149
Lebanon Junction (Bullitt) - E51
Southeast Bullitt - E63
Simpsonville (Shelby) - T4451
Bardstown (Nelson) (40 road miles) - Foam, 1200 gallons - From Fire Wiki, roster includes Foam Tanker 1, 1991 International/Omco/Shop/TFT/Clarks Daily, 500/1000F
Lexington (Fayette) (70+ road miles) - E2, MA2, C230, Foam Trailer + 1000 gallons of foam
Covington (Kenton) (98 road miles!) - Foam, 600 gallons
LAP IN (COVERAGE)
La Grange (Oldham) to Okolona - E4534 , Q4552
Shelby County (Shelby) - TBD
Shelbyville (Shelby) - One or two engines? Or possibly to scene.
Vine Grove to Bullitt County stations
West Point to Bullitt County stations
Fort Knox to Bullitt County stations
POLICE - EMS - EM - ETC.
Louisville Water Company - Hydrant trucks
Louisville Metro Police
Louisville Metro EMS
Jefferson County Sheriffs Office
Jefferson County Emergency Management
Kentucky Emergency Management
Kentucky State Police
Transit Authority of River City (TARC) - Transportation
FAA / NTSB
LINKS
Master thread with narrative notes, pictures, discussion, https://www.facebook.com/share/p/17b3Y8pz6q/
Radio traffic, part 1 - 59 min. condensed from 80 min.
Radio traffic, part 2 - 66 min, condensed from ~80 min.
 
It appears that the pilot/plane had reached V1 which is the take-off/abort point, different for all planes. Below it you can safely abort your take-off, above it you are committed to take off, you do not have enough room to stop.
Grump...I'm not sure "safely" conveys the "scared the daylights out..." effect of an RTO.

 
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