UPS MD-11 crash: Death toll rises to 12 as investigation focuses on engine detachment
November 6, 2025
US investigators are examining how an engine detached from a UPS cargo plane as it was taking off from Louisville’s Muhammad Ali International Airport on the evening of 4 November, triggering a fiery crash that killed at least 12 people.
The widebody McDonnell Douglas MD-11 Freighter, bound for Honolulu with three crew members, lifted off briefly before plunging into an industrial area just beyond the airport perimeter.
Surveillance footage reviewed by federal investigators shows the aircraft’s left engine catching fire and then falling away from the wing during takeoff, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said on 5 November.
A “plume of fire” was seen erupting around the wing seconds before the engine detached, NTSB member Todd Inman told reporters. “We’re analysing maintenance logs, black box data and video evidence to understand what happened in those critical moments,” he said.
The ‘black boxes’ – the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder – were recovered from the crash site on Wednesday and appeared to be in good condition.
“We feel comfortable that once we get these to our lab in (Washington) D.C., that we will be able to get a good readout of the applicable data, and that will be yet another point of information that will really help us understand what happened,” Inman told reporters at the first NTSB briefing since the disaster.
Rising death toll and damage from the UPS Louisville crash
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear confirmed that 12 people had died, including the three crew members and residents in buildings struck by debris. Several others remain unaccounted for.
Emergency crews spent the night combing through wreckage scattered across a half-mile stretch of warehouses and small businesses south of the airport.
New dashcam footage published this afternoon showing a previously unseen angle of yesterday’s horrific crash involving a McDonnell Douglas MD-11 Cargo Plane operated by UPS Airlines, during takeoff from Muhammad Ali International Airport in Louisville, Kentucky. The death toll… pic.twitter.com/GHOmvH1mp5
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) November 6, 2025
“This was a blazing inferno,” Governor Beshear said at a briefing. “There’s still a search underway in what remains a dangerous and unstable scene.”
Firefighters battled the flames well into Wednesday morning, with explosions from a nearby fuel recycling facility complicating rescue work. Thick smoke blanketed the surrounding neighbourhoods and knocked out power to hundreds of homes.
Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said the city looked “apocalyptic” on Tuesday night. “For families who’ve lost someone, this is unimaginable,” he said.
NTSB focuses on MD-11 engine failure and maintenance history
The crash has drawn attention to the aircraft’s age and maintenance record.
The MD-11 freighter involved was 34 years old, part of a generation of tri-jets that has largely disappeared from passenger service but remains in cargo use.
Investigators recovered both the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder, which appeared to be intact despite the fire. They are being sent to NTSB laboratories in Washington for analysis.
Aviation experts say the focus will be on the left engine’s pylon—the structure connecting it to the wing—and on possible metal fatigue or component failure. “These aircraft are designed to fly safely with one engine out,” aviation safety analyst Anthony Brickhouse told Reuters. “The key question is how the engine separated, and what impact that had on the control systems.”
WATCH: Dash cam video shows UPS plane crash in Louisville, Kentucky pic.twitter.com/dZdpus1fxu
— BNO News Live (@BNODesk) November 5, 2025
The NTSB said it will also review recent maintenance logs, engine overhauls, and any signs of abnormal vibration recorded before takeoff.
Governor Beshear declared a state of emergency to speed up recovery efforts and mobilise the National Guard. Nearly 200 firefighters and 18 departments responded to the scene, while airport operations were briefly halted overnight.
The runway where the crash occurred will remain closed for several days as investigators clear debris.
Read more: Is the MD-11 the same as the DC-10?
Rare fatal accident for UPS Airlines
It was UPS’s first fatal air crash since 2013, when one of its Airbus freighters went down on approach to Birmingham, Alabama, killing two pilots. The company operates one of the world’s largest MD-11 fleets, with about 50 aircraft in service.
Boeing, which absorbed McDonnell Douglas – the MD-11’s manufacturer – and engine maker GE Aerospace, said they are assisting the investigation.
The NTSB is expected to release a preliminary report within a month, though a full investigation could take up to two years.
For now, officials say it’s too early to draw conclusions. “We have a lot of evidence to analyse,” Inman said. “What we know is that an engine fell off a wing during takeoff, and twelve people lost their lives. Our job is to make sure this never happens again.”
