Aviation expert calls UPS cargo plane crash ‘the worst I have ever heard’

Channel 2 Action News is learning more about the UPS cargo plane that crashed Tuesday night in Louisville.

The plane took its first flight 34 years ago and was originally a commercial passenger plane.

Channel 2’s Karyn Greer spoke with ABC aviation analyst John Nance on Wednesday about what federal investigators are looking for in the deadly crash.

Nance has been flying since the Vietnam War.

“It is probably the worst I have ever heard of in turbojet history,” Nance said about the crash.

The NTSB confirmed on Wednesday that the left wing and engine came off the plane prior to the crash.

“What you’re seeing is a fireball on the left wing. So, we know that the engine had an uncontained failure,” Nance said.

He told Greer that the uncontained failure was so catastrophic that it started tearing into mounting brackets on the engine of the plane.

“You see the airplane lift off just a little bit. It got to about 170 feet and began to roll to the left. And it came down on the left wing, which was torn off almost immediately,” Vance said, watching video of the plane seconds before it crashed and burst into flames.

Nance said the McDonnell Douglas MD-11 widebody jet was full of fuel for the trip to Hawaii.

“There may also have been a collision with a fuel tank on the periphery of the airport. We’re not sure of that information. But certainly, they were carrying over 32,000 gallons of jet fuel, which is not explosive, but it will burn very hotly. And that translates to about 250,000 pounds of fuel,” Nance said.

A team from the NTSB is on the ground searching for answers.

“There’s never, ever just one cause to an accident. And so, when UPS looks at this, they’re going to look, of course, immediately, is there anything we can immediately do? Was there some shortcut taken, some decision that we don’t know about now?” Nance said.

Nance told Greer that the basic crew on the cargo flight is just three people: a pilot, a copilot, and a relief pilot.

He said expect this to be a long, torturous investigation because so many different things could have contributed to the fatal crash.