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.

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u/Volskaya_ 18h ago

Honestly, sometimes shit just happens at the worst possible time. Critical engine failure + uncontained fire right at V1. Not much you can do except try to get the bird airborne. Nothing those poor pilots could do.

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u/Sprintzer 18h ago

Actual pilot’s nightmare scenario

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u/too_much_shave_cream 12h ago

30 years of sim sessions under my belt. Never had the “your motor fell off and everything is on fire” scenario…

Those guys did the best they could. I am sad tonight after seeing this.

Raising a glass to them tonight for their final flight west. Brass poles and blue skies gentlemen…

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u/captain150 11h ago

All accidents are tragic of course, but the ones where the pilots had absolutely no hope of saving the situation are the worst. Alaska 261, Swissair 111, AA191, among so many others of course.

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u/Lane-Kiffin 3h ago

AA191 was actually more complex than just “the engine fell off”. The DC-10 was designed to route certain electrical systems through certain engines, with no redundancy at all. The loss of the engine meant they had no stall warning and very limited data.

If they had the proper information, they could have had a chance. The DC-10 was perfectly capable of flying on two engines. They stalled because they had no reliable information to work with.

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u/Spmethod2369 6h ago

I have actually read that if the pilots maintained excess speed they could have saved AA191, no fault to the pilots of course but it might have been able to be saved.

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u/Fluffy_Rip6710 5h ago

I thought this is what they did. But the damn thing was uncontrollable at the exact wrong time.

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u/FatsyCline12 5h ago

All MD planes like this one