Deadly UPS plane crash in Louisville: What we know and what we don’t
Updated: 2:59 PM EST Nov 14, 2025
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Alex Suckow
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. —IMPORTANT UPDATES:
City’s assistance hotline for anyone affected: 502-473-5271
Louisville mayor says they believe all missing people accounted for, death toll not expected to climb higher than 14.
Grade Lane still closed. No update on reopening.
Oil that spilled into nearby water basins was contained and did not pollute waterways.
Tuesday, Nov. 4 was a devastating day in Louisville after a UPS plane crashed during takeoff.
The catastrophic crash killed several people, injured many others and initially left more than a dozen unaccounted for.
It left behind an apocalyptic-looking scene,
Here is everything we know so far and everything we do not.
The crash
The plane crashed around 5:13 p.m. as it left UPS Worldport, the company’s massive global air hub located at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport. It was en route to Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu.
It exploded in flames in the area of Grade Lane and Fern Valley Road, where many businesses are located. It severely impacted at least two, shredding the top of a roof.
Anadolu
The crash sent a massive plume of smoke into the sky, prompting a shelter-in-place that stretched all the way north to southern Indiana. It was mostly lifted by Wednesday morning.
There was also a massive fire that spread nearly a mile. It took about six hours to get under control and firefighters could be battling hotspots for “a week or longer,” Okolona fire said.
What happened?
The left wing caught fire during takeoff roll and the left engine detached, the National Transportation Safety Board said.
>> Video shows the plane on fire before it crashed
They are still investigating why, and said they won’t speculate or determine what it is while they’re in Louisville.
The NTSB has located the black box, which records flight data and cockpit audio to help investigators understand what happened during a crash.
Below video: Surveillance video shows fiery explosion as UPS plane rips through Louisville businesses
Victims
Fourteen people are dead, including all three crew members, and that number is not expected to climb.
Capt. Dana Diamond – 62
Capt. Richard Wartenberg – 57
First Officer Lee Truitt – 45
Angela Anderson – 45
Carlos Fernandez – 52
Louisnes Fedon – 47
Kimberly Asa – 3 (granddaughter of Louisnes Fedon)
Trinadette “Trina” Chavez – 37
Tony Crain – 65
John Loucks – 52
John Spray – 45
Matthew Sweets – 37
Ella Petty Whorton – 31
Megan Washburn – 35
At least a dozen were hospitalized with injuries. The injuries range from burns to blast wounds to smoke inhalation. UofL doctors said they all had to be cleaned and decontaminated before entering the hospital due to the amount of jet fuel.
The plane
It was a 34-year-old McDonnell Douglas MD-11, built in 1991. It was Flight 2976.
It was fully loaded with fuel at the time, with about 38,000 gallons, which contributed to the blaze being so massive.
“Really, the plane itself is almost acting like a bomb because of the amount of fuel,” Aviation attorney Pablo Rojas told the Associated Press.
The fuel weighed about 280,000 pounds, officials said.
It reached a max speed of 210 mph and an altitude of 475 feet, or about 100 feet off the ground.
Retired UPS captain Norman Seawright, Jr. said its the third largest aircraft in the company’s fleet, and one of the oldest, “But it’s still one of the most reliable ones that we have there.”
Despite some reports, NTSB said UPS told them the plane did not have any maintenance just prior to takeoff that would have delayed the flight.
The MD-11 is actually in the process of being phased out by the company.
The NTSB said the one that crashed spent six weeks in San Antonio, TX, and FAA data shows back in September, maintenance discovered a crack and corrosion on the plane.
After it was repaired, the plane was in flight almost every day.
UPS grounded all MD-11’s on the Friday following the crash “out of an abundance of caution”. In a press release, the company said the decision was made under the recommendation of the manufacturer. MD-11’s make up 9% of UPS current fleet.
The FAA has ordered an emergency airworthiness directive (AD), grounding all Boeing Company Model MD-11 and MD-11F airplanes.
All MD-11’s are restricted from flying until they are inspected and proper maintenance and corrections have been done.
Airport impact
Flights at SDF and Worldport were canceled Tuesday after the crash. By Thursday around 6 p.m., all runways were back to full operating.
Some passengers told WLKY they had to spend the night at SDF on Tuesday.
Operations at UPS Worldport resumed Wednesday evening.
Worldport handles about 300 flights daily and sorts more than 400,000 packages an hour. It’s unclear how this crash is impacting services.
Scope of damage
There are many businesses in Grade Lane area affected by the crash.
Two businesses with serious impacts were Kentucky Petroleum Recycling, which the governor said was hit “pretty directly,” and Grade A Auto Parts.
A logistics warehouse owned by UPS was clipped by the plane and left obvious damage on the roof.
Hearst Owned
Officials who toured the scene saw burned out cars, silos and more.
Metro Emergency Services said they are still trying to figure out how many acres of land were burned from the crash.
The chief said it will take “quite a while” to clear it up.
Officials say the debris field is between half a mile and a mile long.
It runs from Crittenden Drive to Melton Lane heading north and south and past Grade Lane and Hawkins Avenue heading east and west.
Grade Lane is still closed, and there is no timeline for it to reopen.
Investigation
The NTSB is leading the investigation and 28 members arrived in Louisville on Wednesday.
They are currently working without pay due to the government shutdown.
The Federal Aviation Administration is coordinating with the UPS team.
NTSB said it’ll take days to retrieve the information from the black box on the plane. It could take a year to determine an official cause for the crash.
Environmental issues
A shelter-in-place was immediately issued as far north as Indiana, but is significantly down as of Wednesday.
The order is now in place just for a quarter-mile radius of 7501 Grade Lane, the city’s hazardous waste drop-off just south of the airport.
Beshear said Wednesday that people “immediately near” the crash site should avoid drinking tap water until further notice. Now, all drinking water should be safe unless Louisville Water contacts you specifically.
Get updated info from Louisville Water here.
MSD stopped 30,000 gallons of oil from going into ground water.
Some oil runoff did affect some nearby water basins, but MSD said the basins have been isolated and the waterways they connect to were not affected.
Pond creek, northern ditch and southern ditch are still under that no contact order as of Nov. 10.
State of emergency
Beshear also announced Wednesday that he is issuing a state of emergency in Kentucky in the aftermath of the crash.
“This allows us to move resources more quickly through emergency management and through the Kentucky National Guard,” the governor said. “It allows state resources to be used also through our agencies to be readily available, including disaster resource management, expenses related to response and more, as well as reimbursement.”
In short, the governor said a state of emergency will ensure that groups that are limited in funding will be able to receive immediate or short-term help.
Below video: Kentucky Gov. Beshear declares state of emergency after deadly plane crash
See debris?
The debris field is somewhere between a half mile and a mile long. The NTSB wants to see it.
Any mail found after the crash can be returned to any local USPS post office.
Greenberg posted that the FBI no longer needs to collect the mail as part of the ongoing investigation.
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