A board member of the federal agency investigating attempting to take off from Louisville's airport said Wednesday its left engine detached on the airfield before crashing just past the runway.
National Transportation Safety Board member Todd Inman briefed the press in Louisville about the agency's investigation of the crash scene, which has a debris field half a mile long stretching south from the Muhammad Ali International Airport runway.
Inman said that after the MD-11 cargo jet was cleared for takeoff Tuesday, at approximately 5:15 p.m. "a large plume of fire in the area of the left wing occurred during the takeoff roll."
"The plane lifted off and gained enough altitude to clear the fence at the end of runway 17 and shortly after clearing that fence, it made impact with structures and the terrain off of the airport property," Inman said.
The plane then , creating — ignited with 220,000 pounds of jet fuel and impacting oil tanks on those properties. As of Wednesday afternoon, there were 11 confirmed deaths from the crash.
Inman added that NTSB officials have viewed airport CCTV security coverage, which shows "the left engine detaching from the wing during the takeoff roll." He said the engine was recovered on the airfield and was already detached by the time the plane crashed.
He also said investigators have recovered the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder, which are contained in what is commonly referred to as an aircraft's black box. This device is being shipped to Washington D.C. to be analyzed.
The fire of the crash site was intense, but Inman said the black box "is built to withstand that." He said they won't know the condition of the data until it is analyzed.
One of the four board members of the agency, Inman said the NTSB is now on the ground in Louisville to analyze all of the facts, determine the probable cause of the accident and then issue a report on its recommendations going forward.
Inman said different NTSB work groups would review the history of the flight and crew and the wreckage of the crash site, as well as the plane's systems, engines and maintenance records.
Though NTSB officials are now on the ground investigating the crash in Louisville, Inman added that "we will not be determining the probable cause while we are here on scene, nor will we speculate about what may have caused this."
Responding to questions, Inman said the ongoing federal government shutdown will not affect the investigation, as "we have everyone we need and then some in order to make sure we're performing this investigation."
He also disputed media reports that the UPS flight departing to Hawaii was delayed before takeoff for maintenance, saying the UPS indicated to NTSB that there was no delay and "there was not maintenance work done immediately before."
"That is information that we will still collaborate and independently verify, but at least by first glance, we do not see that happening," Inman said.
As for when the NTSB will complete its examination of the runways and allow the airport to open all of them back up, Inman noted the importance of both its investigation and the services that UPS provides to the public. The UPS Worldport facility in Louisville is the largest fully automated package handling facility in the world, employing 20,000 and serving more than 300 inbound and outbound flights daily.
"We are hopeful that we can turn over at least one of the runways shortly, and as soon as possible, the other runway, while still preserving all the evidence," Inman said.
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