New Satellite Images Show Scale of Utter Devastation After UPS Plane Crash
(Screengrab via X)
Investigators have recovered the flight data and cockpit voice recorders from the UPS MD-11 cargo jet that exploded on departure in Louisville, Kentucky on Tuesday as new satellite imagery shows an industrial corridor reduced to charred wreckage.
The 34-year-old McDonnell Douglas aircraft lifted off from Muhammad Ali International Airport on Tuesday evening, bound for Honolulu.
It climbed roughly 175 feet and cleared the perimeter fence before plunging to the ground, captured in terrifying dashcam footage by witnesses, striking businesses and triggering multiple fires and secondary explosions.
Satellite images captured by Vantor Tech and published by NewsNation show the scale of the devastation:
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said the operation has shifted from rescue to recovery. As of Wednesday evening, the death toll rose to 12, including one child, with nine victims killed on the ground. Fifteen others were injured.
National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) officials confirmed that one of the jet’s three engines detached as the aircraft was accelerating on the runway. Those recorders suffered heat damage, but NTSB spokesman Todd Inman told reporters on Wednesday: “We feel comfortable that once we get these to our lab in DC that we will be able to get a good readout of the applicable data.”
He said that would “be yet another point of information that will really help us understand what happened.”
The NTSB is now working, he added, “to understand not only what happened, but why it happened and recommend changes to prevent it from happening again.”
Local firefighters say they are still combing half a mile of burned factory plots.
“For the fuselage, we’ve not seen much of it, to tell you the truth,” said Okolona fire chief Mike Little. “With the intense fire that was out there, most things are gone, including vehicles, semis and the plane.”
He added: “To be honest with you, we are lucky this is not a residential area.”
UPS resumed partial operations at Worldport late Wednesday. The company’s CEO, Carol Tomé, said executives are “deeply saddened” and “incredibly grateful to our team in Louisville for their grace and professionalism.”
