Vigil planned in Kentucky to share sorrow over UPS plane crash that killed at least 12

The inferno destroyed the enormous plane and spread to nearby businesses, killing at least 12 people, including a child and three UPS crew on the cargo hauler. No one expects to find survivors in the crash at UPS Worldport, the company’s global aviation hub.

The plane had been cleared for takeoff Tuesday when a large fire developed in the left wing and an engine fell off, said Todd Inman, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board, which is leading the investigation.

Meanwhile, UPS Worldport operations resumed Wednesday night with its Next Day Air, or night sort, operation, spokesperson Jim Mayer said.

“Our goal is to begin returning the network to a normal cadence," Mayer said.

Black box provides insight

Greenberg described the crash site as “horrific,” with “charred, mangled metal.” Part of the plane's tail, he said, appeared to be sticking out of a storage silo.

“You hear people say, ‘Oh, you only see that in the movies.’ This was worse than the movies,” Greenberg told reporters.

Teamsters Local 89, which represents UPS workers, scheduled a late afternoon public vigil. The mayor encouraged the public to attend, calling it an opportunity to “share our heartbreak” and "find strength to keep moving forward.”

The plane's last data recordings showed it had reached an altitude of 475 feet (145 meters) and a speed of 210 mph (340 kph) before crashing just outside Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport, Inman said Thursday.

The engine's main component and pieces of engine fan blades were recovered from the airfield. Inman said UPS indicated that no maintenance work was performed before the flight “that would delay it in any way." He noted that investigators will look at video to see what, if anything, was being done around the MD-11 aircraft in preceding days.

Remains being identified

Earlier, Greenberg said the remains of 12 people have been found, and investigators believe that number includes the three who were on the UPS plane. The coroner’s office, the mayor added, is working to confirm identities and determine whether the others are nine people who remain unaccounted for based on reports from families.

The UPS package handling facility in Louisville is the company’s largest. The hub employs more than 20,000 people in the region, handles 300 flights daily and sorts more than 400,000 packages an hour.

“We have received an outpouring of support from around the world — we deeply appreciate every prayer and word of encouragement,” UPS said.

The crash and explosion caused even more blasts and destruction at businesses in an industrial corridor just outside the airport. University of Louisville Hospital said Wednesday that two people were in critical condition in the burn unit. Others were treated and released.

Flames, panic and more questions

Sabit Aliyev, the owner of Kentucky Truck Parts and Service, still doesn't know if his business is standing. He said he was inside the shop Tuesday when the burning plane passed by, followed by an explosion. He went outside and recorded what sounded like another explosion.

“It was like hell,” Aliyev said. “There was fire all over. It was sky high.”

He and his workers fled over vacant land but were suddenly trapped by a high security fence until a police officer used bolt cutters to cut open a gate.

“I still have life, but 12 people — not anymore,” he said.

Jeff Guzzetti, a former federal crash investigator, said a number of things could have caused the fire as the 34-year-old plane was rolling down the runway.

“It could have been the engine partially coming off and ripping out fuel lines. Or it could have been a fuel leak igniting and then burning the engine off,” Guzzetti said.

Flight records show the UPS plane was on the ground in San Antonio from Sept. 3 to Oct. 18, but it was unclear what maintenance was performed.

“We will look at every piece of maintenance done, from the San Antonio time all the way to the date of the flight. ... It's going to be a laborious process," Inman of the NTSB said.

He said said there was no reason to take any immediate safety actions against other MD-11 planes in service.

Associated Press reporters John Raby in Cross Lanes, West Virginia; Ed White in Detroit; Travis Loller in Nashville, Tennessee; and Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire, contributed.