Black box from Louisville UPS plane crash recovered — and harrowing dashcam vid shows wild fireball
The charred black box of the UPS cargo aircraft that crashed in Kentucky, killing 12, was recovered Thursday as new dashcam video surfaced showing the dramatic moment the plane slammed into the ground in an enormous streak of fire.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released photos of the burnt black box that was salvaged from the Louisville crash site.
The black box contains the plane’s cockpit voice recorder and a flight data recorder, key information that investigators need to figure out what caused the fatal wreck.
The cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder from the wreckage of UPS Flight 2976.NTSB / SWNS
The NTSB has said it will take several days before investigators can get information out of the scorched box.
The images were released the same day that a dashcam video of the disaster went viral.
The horrifying footage — taken by a driver’s dashboard camera just a few feet away — shows the exact moment UPS Flight 2976 strikes the ground at an industrial area just south of Louisville’s Muhammad Ali International Airport.
The UPS cargo plane that exploded in the deadly crash had recently been grounded for more than a month for critical repairs to its fuel tank.Anela Hadzic / Facebook
The plane immediately exploded into a fireball, leaving a streak of flames behind it as it crashed through a UPS warehouse.
The UPS plane that crashed in Louisville, Kentucky, lost one of its engines shortly after takeoff.Anela Hadzic / Facebook
A pickup truck that was parked outside one of the facilities could be seen quickly backing away and fleeing as men from inside the building ran for their lives.
The jet was carrying about 50,000 gallons of jet fuel when it took off from the airport minutes before its engine fell out and it crashed, leaving a massive fire in its wake.
Satellite image shows the path of destruction after the plane tried to take off from Muhammad Ali International Airport.via REUTERS
Satellite images show the extent of the 300-foot-long black trail of scorched debris caused by the deadly crash.
Along with the UPS facility, two nearby businesses — Kentucky Petroleum Recycling and Grade A Auto Parts — were also damaged by the wreckage.
Local and state officials confirmed that among the 12 dead was a child who was with a parent at the car parts business.
The NTSB is currently investigating what caused the fire, which broke out on the plane’s wing, and why the engine fell off.
