Death Toll From UPS Plane Crash Climbs To 13 As Airport Reopens

The number of casualties from the crash of a United Parcel Service Inc. cargo plane rose to 13, as investigators head into the fourth day of a probe into what caused the incident near the company’s global hub in Kentucky.

“On my way to the Teamsters’ vigil, I learned of a 13th person that died as a result of the UPS flight 2976 plane crash,” Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg wrote in a post on X Thursday night, referring to a local service being held in honor of the victims. Officials had previously said that 12 people had died. 

Three crew members aboard the aircraft are believed to be among the casualties, Greenberg said separately in a press conference on Thursday morning. Captain Richard Wartenberg, First Officer Lee Truitt, and International Relief Officer Captain Dana Diamond were operating the flight, UPS said in a separate statement. 

Nine people presumed to be in the area at the time of the crash are still unaccounted for, Greenberg said. Local officials are working on confirming the victims’ identities, he said. 

On Thursday evening, about 48 hours after the crash, the Louisville airport returned to being fully operational, after closing runways following the incident. 

Meanwhile, federal investigators are looking into what caused the crash. Agents have successfully extracted data from the cockpit voice and flight data recorders, National Transportation Safety Board official Todd Inman said in a briefing Thursday afternoon. The data from the recorders, commonly called “black boxes,” will allow investigators to piece together what happened in the final minutes as the doomed jet took off Tuesday evening, bound for Honolulu, Hawaii. 

“We consider this a good extraction with good data points, which means that we will have even more information to help paint a comprehensive picture,” Inman said.

The fuel-laden McDonnell Douglas MD-11, which lost its left engine during takeoff, climbed high enough to clear a fence at the end of the runway at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport, but then plunged into terrain and buildings outside of the facility’s perimeter. Preliminary flight data shows that the UPS plane was last recorded at an altitude of 475 feet and traveling at a speed of 183 knots, Inman said.

The NTSB has recovered parts of the left-side engine from the runway, including fan blades, Inman said.

The agency said the aircraft was in San Antonio for a period of several weeks prior to the crash. Flight records show the jet flew from Louisville to San Antonio on Sept. 3, and didn’t return until Oct. 18. VT San Antonio Aerospace was contracted to conduct the so-called heavy maintenance on the aircraft, according to data from Cirium. 

Safety investigators are pulling records from that visit and also looking at any prior maintenance or inspections as part of the probe. The NTSB said it currently doesn’t know of any maintenance issues on the plane immediately before Tuesday’s crash. 

Travel Disruptons

The fatal accident comes at a time of widespread air travel disruptions across America caused by air traffic controller shortages since the US government shutdown began Oct. 1. 

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Wednesday that US air capacity will be cut by 10% at 40 high-volume locations to alleviate strain on the aviation system. The reductions are expected to be phased in, starting with 4% on Friday, according to people familiar with the plans.

Read More: What to Expect When Airlines Cut 10% of Flights Due to Shutdown

Tuesday’s incident adds to a deadly year for global aviation. Just three weeks ago, a cargo plane skidded off the runway and into the sea at Hong Kong International Airport, killing two ground crew. In June, 241 people died on an Air India flight that crashed just after takeoff, and in January a US Army helicopter collided with an American Airlines Group Inc. regional jet on approach to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport near Washington.

UPS on Wednesday night resumed package-sorting operations at the Louisville hub — its largest facility known as Worldport — after halting the work right after the crash. 

“Our goal is to begin returning the network to a normal cadence,” a UPS spokesperson said in an emailed statement, adding that flights leaving Louisville arrived at their destinations Thursday morning.

UPS has said it doesn’t believe the event will materially impact the company’s financial position, results of operations or cash flow.

Boeing Co., which took over McDonnell Douglas in 1997, said it is offering technical assistance to the NTSB. 

The aircraft involved in Tuesday’s accident was originally built for Thai Airways International in the early 1990s before being converted into a freighter about 20 years ago for UPS. The plane was powered by three General Electric Co. CF6 engines.

The DC-11 model is now only flown by cargo operators, having conducted its last passenger flight more than a decade ago. 

Other accidents involving UPS operations include UPS Flight 6 in September 2010, when a Boeing 747-400F crashed near Dubai after it experienced an in-flight cargo fire, killing both crew members. 

In August 2013, an Airbus SE A300-600F crashed short of the runway in Birmingham, Alabama, killing the captain and first officer. Authorities cited fatigue, pilot error and subsequent aircraft instability as probable causes for that crash.