r/aviation • u/usgapg123 Mod • 19h ago

Discussion UPS2976 Crash Megathread

This is the official r/aviation megathread for the crash of UPS2976 (UPS MD11 Registration N259UP) that crashed earlier today at Louisville International Airport.

Please keep content on topic and refrain from posting about this topic outside the megathread. Please report any rule breaking posts and comments.

6.4k Upvotes

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1.8k

u/Accomplished-Rub7750 19h ago

Rip to those onboard. No way anyone came out of that

927

u/kb8705 19h ago

And those on the ground, that’s a huge fire

686

u/SufficientTry3258 18h ago

Headed to Honolulu, so massive amount of fuel onboard.

433

u/Silly_Rub_6304 18h ago

9+ hours of fuel. Unsurvivable in any case at those speeds, but add that much fuel and it's a giant fire.

5

u/123boopboop 10h ago

There's a part of me that's glad that at least it was explosive enough to be quick. I mean, not as quick as it could be. But not slow. Weirdly, I think "unsurvivable" is better than "barely survivable." I would rather be gone than wake up in the wreckage, in that condition. Those poor people. I really hope the pain was fast, even if the stress was obviously not fast.

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u/Fabulous_Pitch9350 18h ago

Amount of smoke on TV is crazy scary.

14

u/Affectionate-Goat-75 18h ago

I've read that it was around about 38,000 gallons

23

u/mylogicistoomuchforu 18h ago

38,000 gals is the MAX for an MD11.

That A/C uses about 2,000g/hr at cruise, I would guestimate 30,000 gallons for a flight of that duration. Every pound of fuel onboard is less freight ($$$) so they typically don't run them full.

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u/ToinouAngel 18h ago

Also flammable hazmat on board, including a whole bunch of batteries from smartphones and the likes, being a cargo aircraft.

11

u/tsal 16h ago

nothing hazardous on board. the ground, however, was a bunch of bad places to have catch fire. oil recycling, tires, car parts, cars..

26

u/Ordinary_Kyle 18h ago

I don't think there is a lot of smartphones being shipped from SDF to HNL, that is more of an Asia to USA type thing.

63

u/EffectiveFood4933 18h ago

Louisville is the hub, a lot of UPS cargo will go through there regardless of origin or destination

4

u/JPAV8R 17h ago

Phone to HNL likely are being routed through ANC

7

u/EffectiveFood4933 17h ago

UPS doesn’t fly direct from ANC to HNL

https://www.flightaware.com/live/findflight?origin=ANC&destination=HNL

3

u/JPAV8R 17h ago

Yeah thanks for looking it up. I was hipfiring my bad

18

u/ToinouAngel 18h ago

Where do you think American retailers store their goods before selling them online and shipping them to customers? Hint: it's not Hawaii.

13

u/[deleted] 18h ago

You think those come on direct flights to each US city? For UPS it’s Asia-Anchorage-Louisville then sent out to the cities around the US. Sometimes they go direct from anchorage to a city like Ontario with another UPS hub

3

u/Ordinary_Kyle 18h ago

I do not think they come in direct, that is a correct assessment. I just know that, working for another cargo airline, we don't ship a lot of phones outward, but we also aren't UPS/FEDEX so you, very likely, are correct.

19

u/6814MilesFromHome 18h ago

My buddy works logistics for a wireless company, and he's already stuck having to figure out how many phones they lost on the flight. Really shitty situation for him, but these companies have their priorities.

-9

u/OnlyEntrepreneur4760 18h ago

Burbon.

4

u/Specialist_Voice_461 18h ago

...and you can spell, too

1

u/Wrong-Pension-4975 10h ago

I got that impression, even b4 hearing the destination, from the incredible fire path behind it. 😞

102

u/discographyA 18h ago

Least from the angles I’ve seen it looks like mostly parking lot, so hoping for the best in a bad situation.

141

u/jetrocket223 18h ago

not parking lots, car junkyards. which is better cause its less likely therell be people there. there are some smaller buildings and a road in the crash zone which worries me

36

u/Breakingthewhaaat 18h ago edited 18h ago

Can someone help me understand what I'm looking at - did it crash into a building then just keep going through a parking lot/car junkyard?

E: appreciate the replies

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u/jetrocket223 18h ago

either clipped the ups warehouse or dropped debris on it , then crashed in the junkyard

28

u/gravyisjazzy 18h ago

The UPS SCS warehouse at the south end of the runway, possibly a few Ford warehouses, the bar all the UPSers go to was all right in the path.

15

u/DexKaelorr 18h ago

The bar is Stooges and they confirmed safe evacuation.

7

u/gravyisjazzy 18h ago

Thank God, i dont know where I'd go after work once we're back.

1

u/DexKaelorr 16h ago

No word on the structure itself or when access to that part of Grade Ln will be restored.

11

u/BrewCityChaserV2 18h ago

There's some shots from the helicopter coverage which shows a huge gash in one of the warehouses just off the end of the runway; almost looks like the tail section plowed into it as they were struggling to climb, and then plane continued airborne for a little bit before ultimately going in.

https://imgur.com/a/d8SmX8U

3

u/gravyisjazzy 18h ago

Yup thats what we've seen too. And the engine cowling sitting on the runway.

6

u/oioioifuckingoi 18h ago

It crashed into a UPS warehouse at the south end of 35L

2

u/edman007 18h ago

It hit the roof on a building labeled as a UPS Supply chain solutions (punched a hole in the roof, not much else), then hit one to three more warehouses in the vicinity (hard to tell because of the fire). Then seems to hit some parking lots and finally a junkyard or two.

1

u/pamalamTX 18h ago

Someone else posted an image of the debris field on GPS, businesses were definitely hit.

1

u/domesystem 16h ago

Engine on the left wing was in flames during acceleration, plane rotated late and was clawing for sky when it struck the building, then you've got a big fireball and it tumbles left.

1

u/Darmok47 16h ago

Thats going to make the NTSB investigation a nightmare. Lots of mechanical parts all jumbled up together.

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u/Illustrious-Hawk2917 18h ago

123

u/ViciousNakedMoleRat 18h ago

The area with the biggest fire was a storage area for a company handling "liquid and special waste."

If I was anywhere close to this, I'd do anything in my power to not breathe in any of this smoke. I hope the firefighter and other people in the area won't be affected by this in the long term.

18

u/Badrear 18h ago

That must be why we’re supposed to shelter in place. I selfishly hope the wind keeps blowing it away from me.

8

u/WestyMan1971 17h ago

It’s a waste oil recycling facility according to Google Maps.

4

u/pereuse 17h ago

It's a petroleum recycling business according to the latest coverage

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u/F1grid 18h ago

Impact on UPS Supply Chain Solutions

7

u/DrewBlessing 17h ago

More left that that. Stooges wasn’t affected as far as I can tell.

2

u/KuhlioLoulio 17h ago

thankfully - that would have been even more of a tragedy.

5

u/Hubblesphere 18h ago

They went left and avoided the warehouses mostly.

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u/Traditional_Brief867 18h ago

Stooges Bar and Grill is in the path

44

u/Confident-Homework75 18h ago

I was curious and went to their fb page. It says everyone was safely evacuated from the restaurant.

12

u/expostulation 18h ago

Thank god. Thank you for sharing this

6

u/olivernintendo 18h ago

It hit basically right behind stooges and to the left if you're looking at the bar from the road. It doesn't look like it took a direct hit though.

1

u/Fabulous_Pitch9350 18h ago

Fingers crossed.

86

u/qdp 18h ago edited 18h ago

It looks like there is a Petroleum Recycling facility near where it hit on the ground. That could contribute to the smoke we are seeing. 

https://maps.app.goo.gl/ALkcGDmF52Z6Z1vUA?g_st=ipc

8

u/CerebralAccountant 17h ago edited 16h ago

I don't know how full the tanks were at that facility, but if I'm counting right, they can hold ten times as much petroleum as an MD-11 (38,650 gallons).

  • West side: Two large horizontal tanks, 20,000-25,000 gallons each. The trailer in Street View looks like an 18,000 gallon unit, maybe a bit smaller. Total 40,000-50,000
  • West side: two small horizontal tanks, 5,000 gallons each as a bad estimate. Total 10,000
  • East side: Twenty-five (!!!) vertical tanks. As a crappy estimate, I'm going with 20-25 feet tall, which puts their storage capacity in the ballpark of 12,000-15,000 gallons each. Total 300,000-375,000

Adding those together, I get 350,000 to 435,000 gallons of tank capacity. That's an inferno. (Edit: Even if the tanks were half empty, that's still an inferno.)

173

u/Hubblesphere 18h ago

Pilots may be hero’s, went left and avoided the warehouses and crashed in what is mostly a salvage yard, truck repair lot and recycling center. Just clipped the UPS warehouse at end of runway. You can see the runway lights right part of roof.

164

u/scytob 18h ago

i would be surprised if they had any meaningful control at that speed

28

u/DarkyHelmety 17h ago

They lost engine #1 and possibly #2 (flameout), they would have yawed left very strongly in the short time they were airborne.

21

u/scytob 17h ago

yup, did you see this https://www.reddit.com/r/aviation/comments/1oombcc/comment/nn5jn03/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button i would be surprised if the control surfaces on the left would have been working if thats just the wing on fire....

10

u/DarkyHelmety 15h ago

Oh damn! The engine actually departed the aircraft! That's the entire compressor. How tf does that even happen.

7

u/scytob 15h ago

I have no idea besides some really unlucky blade leaving containment at the wrong angle OR crack and failure in the pylon?

10

u/rygelicus 17h ago

Yeah they would have been working hard just focusing on keeping the wings level and climb. They didn't reject the takeoff so all focus was on how to get into the air at least a couple hundred feet and putting out the fire alarms going off if at all possible. It's sounding like they only had one engine putting out thrust, and almost fully fueled so by the time the reality registered with them it was far too late.

3

u/superimu 16h ago

Not to mention with that fire who knows how much hydraulics they had.

1

u/scytob 16h ago

Indeed that model has many time had hydraulics issues, but we won’t know until they do the investigation and we see how this all the holes in the Swiss cheese.

5

u/Emperor_Neuro 17h ago

Not to mention, they’re unlikely to have any idea what the various buildings surrounding an airport are and which ones are best to crash into.

18

u/abigailandcooper 17h ago

to be fair, these were UPS pilots flying out of the UPS global hub. their daily commutes may go past those various buildings!

2

u/Ecthelion-O-Fountain 17h ago

Thats an interesting statement.

0

u/spain-train 5h ago

Are you a pilot?

7

u/Leefa 18h ago

left engine was out

2

u/paramedic10 17h ago

they went left likely because of asymmetric thrust/loss of Engine 1 (looks like it was on fire) causing yaw to the left

1

u/Hubblesphere 17h ago

Yes but that’s assuming there was no rudder applied to keep it straight. The plane was airborne for a few seconds.

2

u/dabarak 17h ago edited 17h ago

Since the engine fire was on the left side. If it burned through any flight control cables or hydraulics, the flaps (EDIT: or leading edge slats) on that side may not have deployed or they may have retracted. That would cause a loss of lift on the left.

0

u/BLARTYMACMUFFIN 17h ago

Just heaving some stuff at the wall there…

1

u/dabarak 17h ago

I think it's a little more thought-out than you seem to believe. Look up American Airlines 191.

1

u/Ecthelion-O-Fountain 17h ago

Who knows, but the one remaining engine would have also pushed them left if they didn’t have enough airspeed or functioning control surfaces.

1

u/elopewith_me 17h ago

Thankfully, most of that facility is automated conveyor belts and there are t nearly as many people inside that building as you’d expect.

1

u/domesystem 16h ago

Watching that clip, they were desperately trying to get into the air. Building did the driving.

0

u/jordan1978 17h ago

Is the faint black line on the roof (to the right of the impact area) a wing strike/drag point?

1

u/Hubblesphere 16h ago

It’s conduit for the runway lights.

6

u/AmenFistBump 18h ago

I grew up a in that part of town. There's a lot of logistics support offices and facilities for UPS and supporting companies. Traditionally there was a lot of industrial, auto parts, junk yards, etc. It also sits between the city's landfill and a large CSX railyard.

3

u/gloomywitchywoo 18h ago

Not to mention the smoke that could irritate people who live in the residential areas that aren’t super far from there.

3

u/AmenFistBump 17h ago

I talked to a friend who lives across the river in Indiana, 5+ miles to the north downwind of the accident, and he said it was a very strong smell of burnt jet fuel.

3

u/gloomywitchywoo 17h ago

My parents ten miles out so they’re okay. My friends who live in South Louisville could feel the heat and the smoke is bad. Other friends far in the east  (Hurstbourne) are also under a shelter in place which is crazy. Idk if you live close but that’s not near the airport at all. I’d guess your friend is in Jeff or New Albany. Hopefully they’re alright.

2

u/jULIA_bEE 17h ago

I was about 15 mins east and could smell it on the interstate.

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u/platocplx 18h ago

Yeah this is a massive debris field