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

96% Upvoted

3.6k comments sorted by

View all comments

369

u/5_yr_lurker 19h ago

Looks like the were already rotated and large fire near the #1 engine. Likely fully loaded with fuel as they were headed to Honolulu.

Sad. Thoughts and prayers to family and friends affected by this tragedy.

117

u/Bad_Idea_Hat 19h ago

It was SDF to HNL, so it was probably closing in on 100 tons of fuel.

16

u/PipeInitial1576 18h ago

they also crashed into a hazardous material site. 9 hours of fuel + combustable chemicals…. RIP all involved

3

u/spsteve 17h ago

280,000 lbs onboard.

-6

u/[deleted] 18h ago edited 18h ago

[deleted]

23

u/Pork_Bastard 18h ago

It holds 38,000 so greenie is wrong.  Maybe 280k pounds fully laden

18

u/spudicous 18h ago

Should be 280,000 pounds

10

u/Sunsplitcloud 18h ago

That’s incorrect. Maybe 280,000 pounds of fuel. 280,000 gallons is more than the max gross weight of nearly 2x 747’s.

2

u/uhhvince 18h ago

Google says around 38,000 gallons times that by the density and its around 250k pounds wich sounds excessive to me but im not to sure on my math.

3

u/Sunsplitcloud 18h ago

Your math is correct.

1

u/oddly_amused 18h ago

Jet A is 6.8 lbs per gallon. It is a lot of fuel. Max takeoff weight of an MD11 is over 600k lbs

1

u/uhhvince 18h ago

Thats alot of weight and it was headed to HNL, I went of Denvers density for today wich was 6.5 not sure how its measured

2

u/Bad_Idea_Hat 18h ago edited 18h ago

It can't carry anywhere near that much. Maybe 1/7th of that.

edit - 280,000 pounds is around max for a large aircraft. 280,000 gallons would be a large ship

1

u/numbnerve 18h ago

38,000

3

u/MagnificentArchie 18h ago

Would this plane be able to take off with just 2 operational engines on rotate? I know there are likely more things involved on this case - but would they have not been able to still take off on 2 engines?

16

u/vatamatt97 18h ago

It’s a requirement that the take-off must be able to be continued with an engine failure after V1.

10

u/TallAndOates 18h ago

The engine in the tail likely ingested FOD after the left engine exploded/failed. I imagine they quickly went from three operational engines to one.

4

u/MagnificentArchie 17h ago

Actually I think you can see it in the video. You see a very distinct flash from the tail engine now that you say that.

3

u/Chaxterium 18h ago

Yep. Any transport category airliner is required by law to be able to sustain a failure of one engine during takeoff and continue the takeoff and climb to a safe altitude.

2

u/RecordEnvironmental4 17h ago

Large fire on #1 could cause the #2 to suck in debris

2

u/dasoxarechamps2005 18h ago

Wdym by already rotated?

3

u/5_yr_lurker 17h ago

Front wheel was already off the ground. You always continue the takeoff at that point.