The National Transportation Safety Board released dramatic frame-by-frame photos on Thursday showing an engine of the UPS cargo plane detaching shortly before the aircraft crashed in Louisville, Kentucky, earlier this month, killing 14 people.
The six images, released as part of the NTSB’s preliminary investigative report into the crash, show the left engine separating from the left wing and a fire igniting as the plane began to lift off the ground.
Three of the cargo plane’s crew members died in the crash, which happened just outside of the Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport on Nov. 4.
NTSB
The Federal Aviation Administration has grounded all McDonnell Douglas MD-11s, the plane’s model, in the aftermath of the crash.
The NTSB’s preliminary report details fractures within the plane’s hardware connecting the left engine to the left wing.
“After initial cleaning of the fracture surfaces, examination of the left pylon aft mount lug fractures found evidence of fatigue cracks in addition to areas of overstress failure,” the report states.
The plane’s right engine was found still attached to the aircraft’s right wing at the accident site.
The report says that the airplane “initially climbed but did not get higher than about 30 ft above ground level” before crashing into a storage yard and two buildings, including a petroleum recycling facility, that were consumed by the explosion.
Satellite images show the debris field from the explosion extending more than half a mile.
Satellite images before and after the crash show the debris path.Vantor
Video of the crash posted on social media shows the aircraft ablaze in the moments before it crashed just south of the airport, creating a massive fireball. The plane had around 38,000 gallons of fuel on board, officials disclosed earlier this month.
The cargo plane was headed to Honolulu, according to officials. The last time a UPS plane crashed was in 2013, when a plane crash near Birmingham, Alabama killed two pilots.