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Tag: Plane crashes

  • 4 killed after plane crashes in Colorado mountains near Steamboat Springs

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    Four people, including three from the same family, were killed when a plane crashed in the northern Colorado mountains near Steamboat Springs early Friday, law enforcement officials said.

    An Epic Aircraft E1000 headed to Steamboat Springs crashed in a remote area on the south side of Emerald Mountain just after midnight Friday, Routt County Sheriff Doug Scherar and the National Transportation Safety Board confirmed.

    County officials are working to notify next of kin before releasing the names of those who died, but believe three of the people who died belonged to the same family, Routt County Coroner Mitch Locke said.

    In a statement, Scherar said the plane crashed as it was approaching the Bob Adams Airport in Steamboat Springs from the south. The crash site is near the top of Emerald Mountain in a remote area.

    The area near the crash site is marked with yellow tape, and access is restricted. Scherar asked the public to respect the closure.

    The circumstances around the crash are unknown and an NTSB investigator is headed to the scene and expected to arrive shortly, federal officials said Friday evening. The investigator will document the scene and examine the aircraft, which will then be moved to a secure facility to be evaluated further.

    Federal flight data shows the turboprop plane was owned by ALS Aviation LLC in Franklin, Tenn., and was purchased in 2024, while the company was formed on Dec. 7, 2021.

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  • Grieving families press Congress on aviation safety reforms after midair collision near DC

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    Key senators and the families of the 67 dead in an airliner collision with an Army helicopter near the nation’s capital are convinced that advanced aircraft locator systems recommended by experts for nearly two decades would have prevented last year’s tragedy. But it remains unclear if a bill will pass Congress requiring the systems around busy airports.

    The Senate Commerce Committee is planning a hearing Thursday to highlight why the National Transportation Safety Board has been recommending since 2008 that all aircraft be equipped with one system that can broadcast their locations and another one to receive data about the location of other aircraft. Only the system that broadcasts location is currently required. The hearing will review all 50 of the NTSB’s recommendations to prevent another midair collision like that of Jan. 29, 2025.

    All aboard the helicopter and the American Airlines jet flying from Wichita, Kansas, including 28 members of the figure skating community, died died when the aircraft collided and plummeted into the icy Potomac River.

    The entire Senate already unanimously approved the bill that would require all aircraft flying around busy airports to have both kinds of Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast systems installed. However, leaders of the key House committees seem to want to craft their own comprehensive bill addressing all the NTSB recommendations instead of immediately passing what’s known as the ROTOR act. The ADS-B out systems continually broadcast an aircraft’s location and speed and have been required since 2020. But ADS-B in systems that can receive those signals and create a display showing pilots were all air traffic is located around them are not standard.

    If the American Airlines jet had been equipped with one of the ADS-B in systems that can receive location data, the NTSB and the victims’ families and key lawmakers say, the pilots may have been able to pull up in time to avoid the Black Hawk that inexplicably climbed into the plane’s path.

    The receiving systems should have provided nearly a minute’s warning along with an indication of the helicopter’s position instead of the 19-second warning the pilots received with the existing collision-avoidance system on the plane. But for that to work the helicopter’s ADS-B out system that’s supposed to broadcast its location would have to be turned on and working correctly, which wasn’t the case on the night of the crash.

    But these locator systems are one of the measures that might have been able to overcome all the systemic problems and mistakes the NTSB identified in the disaster. That’s why NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy — who will be the only witness at the hearing — Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and all of the Senate endorsed it.

    “This seems like a no-brainer, right? Especially when this is not a new thing that they’re proposing,” said Amy Hunter, whose cousin Peter Livingston died on the flight with his wife and two young daughters.

    Afterward, the FAA made several changes including prohibiting helicopters from flying along the route where the crash occurred anytime a plane is landing on the secondary runway at Reagan National Airport.

    The crash anniversary and NTSB hearing on the causes of the crash made recent weeks challenging for victims’ families. And now the Olympics are reminding Hunter and others that their loved ones — like young Everly and Alydia Livingston — will never have a chance to realize their dreams of competing for a gold medal.

    The biggest stumbling block is cost concerns. Upgrading some airline jets might cost hundreds of thousands of dollars or more, placing an expensive burden on some — especially regional airlines with tighter margins like the one that flew the jet that collided with the Army helicopter. Some worry whether general aviation pilots could afford the upgrades, too.

    Any plane that’s more than a decade old likely doesn’t have either of these systems installed while most planes newer than that would at least have an ADS-B out system that broadcasts their location.

    But roughly three quarters of the pilots of business jets and smaller single-engine Cessnas and Bonanzas use portable devices that only cost several hundred dollars made by companies like ForeFlight that can tap into this location data and display the information about nearby aircraft on an iPad. So it doesn’t appear the legislation would create a significant expense for them.

    Tim Lilley, a pilot himself, said having both these locator systems would have saved the life of his son Sam, who was copilot of the airliner, and everyone else who died. He said small plane owners have an affordable option, but even the expensive upgrades to large planes would be worth it.

    “If those recommendations had been fully realized, this accident wouldn’t have happened,” Lilley said. “I don’t know what value we put on the human life, but 67 lives would still be here today.”

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  • FAA Could Have Prevented Fatal D.C. Plane Collision, Investigation Finds

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    A National Transportation Safety Board review of the mid-air collision between an Army Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines regional jet in January 2025 found that the Federal Aviation Administration was plagued by systemic safety issues in the lead-up to the accident that killed 67 people.

    “The Federal Aviation Administration Air Traffic Organization had multiple opportunities to identify the risk of a mid-air collision between airplanes and helicopters at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. However, their data analysis, safety assurance, and risk assessment processes failed to recognize and mitigate that risk,” the board shared in findings.

    The investigation suggests that the helicopter route was dangerously close to the path taken by civilian aircraft. NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said that the FAA was supposed to conduct annual safety reviews of helicopter routes, but the board was unable to find evidence of such reviews taking place.

    The NTSB also notified the FAA of 15,214 close-proximity events, 85 of which were serious. The investigators said at a hearing on Tuesday that reviews of such near-collisions were done on a case-by-case basis.

    “The data was in their own systems,” Homendy told reporters. “This was 100% preventable.”

    There wasn’t a positive safety culture at the FAA’s operational arm, Air Traffic Organization, NTSB investigators said, with some employees reporting facing retaliation for raising safety concerns.

    Although safety concerns were raised over mid-air collisions in the D.C. airspace, investigators said, the Air Traffic Organization failed to respond to these concerns. Tower personnel also put together their own helicopter working group to “repeatedly” raise concerns and submit recommendations, Homendy said.

    At the hearing, Homendy also said that there were “some concerns with an overreliance on AI by the FAA,” but stopped short of making any connection between the incident and AI use.

    “They’ve got to be careful on the use of AI to pick up trends, to make sure it doesn’t discount some reports,” Homendy said. According to NTSB’s chief data scientist Loren Groff, the FAA has been using AI to sort through large volumes of pilot reports.

    “There really does need to be a human understanding of what all of these things mean together,” Groff said.

    The chair also signaled that the FAA has yet to learn from its mistakes.

    “Commercial airlines have called me to say the next mid-air is going to be in Burbank, and nobody at the FAA is paying attention to us,” Homendy said.

    The investigators said that the FAA still does not have a standardized definition of what constitutes a close-proximity event.

    On top of inadequate safety measures by the FAA, the Army’s aviation safety system was also riddled with failures, the report found. The army failed to allocate adequate resources to aviation safety management for D.C. area helicopter operations and also lacked a positive safety culture, according to investigators.

    The close call issue in aviation is something that the NTSB has been ringing alarm bells over for years. Back in 2023, Homendy told a U.S. Senate panel that there was an increase in serious near-miss aviation incidents, and it was a symptom of a strained aviation system.

    “We cannot wait until a fatal accident forces action,” Homendy said at the time.

    What happened on Jan. 29?

    On January 29th, 2025, over the Potomac River in Washington D.C., an Army Black Hawk helicopter crashed into an American Airlines regional flight from Wichita, Kansas, as it was about to land in Washington D.C.’s Ronald Reagan National Airport. The incident has been deemed the deadliest plane crash in the country since 2001.

    The tower at Ronald Reagan National Airport was managing both helicopter and flight traffic simultaneously. The tower was understaffed at the time, but the Board found that there were still enough personnel to separate the control positions. The decision was up to the operations supervisor, who had been working a really long shift and investigators believe that the “lack of mandatory relief periods for supervisory air traffic control personnel” could have led to poor performance.

    “Keeping the helicopter control and local control positions continuously combined on the night of the accident increased the local control controller’s workload and negatively impacted his performance and situation awareness,” the report found

    The controllers notified the helicopter of the passenger plane approaching, but failed to warn the flight crew of the helicopter. The pilots could not see the helicopter coming, and the airplane lacked airborne collision avoidance systems that could have alerted the pilots to the risk posed by the helicopter.

    When warned, the helicopter crew said they had eyes on the incoming flight, but had likely confused the aircraft with another, because the controller had not specified direction or distance.

    The helicopter was also flying roughly 100 feet above its maximum altitude, and it’s possible that the crew saw a wrong altitude reading. According to the NTSB’s findings, the FAA and the Army failed to identify “incompatibility” between the error tolerances of barometric altimeters in the helicopters and the helicopter route, which meant that helicopters were “regularly” flying higher than they should and even potentially crossing into airplane paths.

    “It is possible that incorrect settings may be present on other aircraft used throughout the Department of War armed services,” the board concluded.

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    Ece Yildirim

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  • A deadly plane crash, a burning home and a tense trial add up in NASCAR’s offseason of heartbreak

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    CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The new year began with a celebration of life for Emma Biffle, the 14-year-old daughter of one of NASCAR’s 75 greatest drivers who was among seven people killed when Greg Biffle’s plane crashed just a week before Christmas.

    The service Sunday was standing room only as the performing arts center in suburban Cornelius wasn’t large enough to accommodate the turnout from the racing community and Davidson Day, the private school where many sent their children alongside Emma.

    The heartbreaking memorial to a teenager lost in a tragic accident capped a month of sorrow for NASCAR with a new season just weeks away. The grieving isn’t over, either, far from it.

    It’s not like the 2025 season ended on the highest note: Denny Hamlin was again denied his first Cup Series championship on a late sequence of events in the season finale that gave the title to Kyle Larson. When Larson was done with his post-race news conference, there was a toast in honor of Jon Edwards, a Hendrick Motorsports communications executive and mentor to many who died unexpectedly in April, a loss felt all season.

    Then came December, usually the start of a quiet offseason in which teams and drivers and every member of the 38-week traveling circus unwinds. Instead, it opened with a bruising federal trial in which two race teams accused NASCAR of being a monopolistic bully; the Michael Jordan-led lawsuit included eight days of testimony that embarrassed NASCAR until the France family settled a day before Hall of Fame owners Rick Hendrick and Roger Penske were due to testify. The landmark agreement will change the current revenue sharing model.

    The relief was far too brief. Biffle’s plane crashed Dec. 18 shortly after encountering an issue after takeoff from the nearby Statesville airport as the group tried to return for an emergency landing. Biffle was among those killed along with his wife, Cristina, five-year-old son, Ryder, and Emma, the only child from his first marriage.

    In a letter written by Nicole Biffle that she was too grief-stricken to read herself at her daughter’s service, she agonized over her decision to allow Emma to fly that day knowing Emma wasn’t feeling well. She had purchased tickets to Italy as a Christmas present for her daughter the night before the crash.

    Ten days after that tragedy, on the 52nd wedding anniversary of Denny Hamlin’s parents, the house he built to repay them for their years of sacrifice to get the future Hall of Famer to NASCAR’s top level, burned down. His father, Dennis, was killed. Mary Lou Hamlin was rushed to a hospital burn unit. Hamlin’s childhood racing memorabilia was lost along with his father.

    If there was any animosity from NASCAR toward Hamlin, a co-owner of the race team with Jordan that sued the series, it dissipated in a heartfelt statement from the sanctioning body.

    “Dennis Hamlin instilled a love of racing in his son, and sacrificed greatly to develop Denny into a world-class talent in the sport,” NASCAR said. “We also continue to offer our thoughts and prayers to Denny’s mother, Mary Lou, and hope for her full recovery.”

    The racing community is a quirky one, with hundreds of people living not just in and around Charlotte but feet away from one another in motorhome parking lots in infields around the country for three-fourths of the year. Relationships can sometimes be contentious and grudges held for years, even decades.

    But it’s also a community all too familiar with death and the dangers that come every weekend on the track. It is tight-knit and almost everyone looks out for each other or steps up in times of crisis and tragedy. There is a solemn pride in helping a fellow racing community member struggling with loss.

    In times of tragedy, NASCAR rallies like no other community. And there is more sadness ahead before the racing resumes.

    A public memorial will be held Jan. 16 for all seven people lost in the Biffle plane crash. It will be held at Bojangles Coliseum, a venue for Charlotte’s minor league hockey team that can be configured to seat more than 10,000 people.

    Knowing the NASCAR community, it will be packed.

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    AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

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  • Small plane crash at Cape Cod airport leaves pilot dead

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    A small plane crashed Sunday at the Provincetown Municipal Airport on Cape Cod, catching fire and killing the pilot, who was the only person on board, officials said.

    Firefighters and other emergency responders extinguished the fire at the crash site near the seaside community at the very tip of the Cape Cod, city officials said in a news release.

    The statement said the pilot was pronounced dead at the crash site.

    The National Transportation Safety Board said in a statement that the aircraf was a Cessna 172N and that it will investigate the crash. It gave no preliminary indication of a possible cause.

    The airport was closed following the crash.

    Provincetown is located about 50 miles (80 kilometers) southeast of Boston at the end of Cape Cod, the hooked peninsula jutting into the Atlantic Ocean in southeast Massachusetts.

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  • Pilot dies in ultralight plane crash off Copacabana beach in Brazil

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    RIO DE JANEIRO — An ultralight plane pulling an advertising banner crashed into the sea off Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday afternoon, killing the pilot, local authorities said.

    The pilot’s body was sent to a medical examiner’s office for identification, officials said.

    Fire department rescue teams were working at the site using Jet Skis, inflatable boats, divers and aerial support. The search also includes sonar equipment to help locate possible additional victims and wreckage.

    Security camera footage released by authorities shows the plane diving nose-first into the sea near the beach around 12:30 p.m. (1530 GMT).

    The Brazilian air force said that it opened an investigation into the cause of the crash. The aircraft was a Cessna 170A owned by an advertising company.

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    Follow the AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

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  • FAA investigating after small plane crashes into New Hampshire condominiums

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    NASHUA, N.H. — A pilot was taken to the hospital with injuries Wednesday after a small plane crashed into a residential neighborhood in southern New Hampshire, authorities said.

    Emergency crews found the aircraft upside down in a snow bank in the parking lot of a wooded condominium complex in Nashua Wednesday afternoon.

    Police said the pilot was the only person on board and was the only person injured. The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating.

    The Velocity V-Twin plane crashed at the Cannongate Condominiums shortly after departing from the nearby Nashua Airport around 2:10 p.m. local time, according to the FAA.

    Aerial video from NBC10 Boston showed damage to the roof of one of the condos near the crash site.

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  • Senators seek to change bill that allows military to operate just like before the DC plane crash

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    Senators from both parties pushed Thursday for changes to a massive defense bill after crash investigators and victims’ families warned the legislation would undo key safety reforms stemming from a collision between an airliner and Army helicopter over Washington, D.C., that killed 67 people.

    The head of the National Transportation Safety Board investigating the crash, a group of the victims’ family members and senators on the Commerce Committee all said the bill the House advanced Wednesday would make America’s skies less safe. It would allow the military to operate essentially the same way as it did before the January crash, which was the deadliest in more than two decades, they said.

    Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell and Republican Committee Chairman Sen. Ted Cruz filed two amendments Thursday to strip out the worrisome helicopter safety provisions and replace them with a bill they introduced last summer to strengthen requirements, but it’s not clear if Republican leadership will allow the National Defense Authorization Act to be changed at this stage because that would delay its passage.

    “We owe it to the families to put into law actual safety improvements, not give the Department of Defense bigger loopholes to exploit,” the senators said.

    Right now, the bill includes exceptions that would allow military helicopters to fly through the crowded airspace around the nation’s capital without using a key system called ADS-B to broadcast their locations just like they did before the January collision. The Federal Aviation Administration began requiring that in March. NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy called the bill a “significant safety setback” that is inviting a repeat of that disaster.

    “It represents an unacceptable risk to the flying public, to commercial and military aircraft, crews and to the residents in the region,” Homendy said. “It’s also an unthinkable dismissal of our investigation and of 67 families … who lost loved ones in a tragedy that was entirely preventable. This is shameful.”

    The military used national security waivers before the crash to skirt FAA safety requirements on the grounds that they worried about the security risks of disclosing their helicopters’ locations. Tim and Sheri Lilley, whose son Sam was the first officer on the American Airlines jet, said this bill only adds “a window dressing fix that would continue to allow for the setting aside of requirements with nothing more than a cursory risk assessment.”

    Homendy said it would be ridiculous to entrust the military with assessing the safety risks when they aren’t the experts, and neither the Army nor the FAA noticed 85 close calls around Ronald Reagan National Airport in the years before the crash. She said the military doesn’t know how to do that kind of risk assessment, adding that no one writing the bill bothered to consult the experts at the NTSB who do know.

    The White House and military didn’t immediately respond Thursday to questions about these safety concerns. But earlier this week Trump made it clear that he wants to sign the National Defense Authorization Act because it advances a number of his priorities and provides a 3.8% pay raise for many military members.

    The Senate is expected to take up the bill next week, and it appears unlikely that any final changes will be made. But Congress is leaving for a holiday break at the end of the week, and the defense bill is considered something that must pass by the end of the year.

    But Senate Majority Leader Sen. John Thune, a Republican, didn’t immediately respond to questions about whether he will allow any amendments to the bill to be considered.

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  • Fleet of UPS planes grounded after deadly crash expected to miss peak delivery season

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    A fleet of planes that UPS grounded after a deadly crash isn’t expected to be back in service during the peak holiday season due to inspections and possible repairs, the company said Wednesday in an internal memo.

    The airline expects it will be several months before its McDonnell Douglas MD-11 fleet returns to service as it works to meet Federal Aviation Administration guidelines, said the memo from UPS Airlines president Bill Moore to employees. The process was originally estimated to take weeks but is now expected to take several months.

    A fiery MD-11 plane crash on Nov. 4 in Louisville, Kentucky, killed 14 people and injured at least 23 when the left engine detached during takeoff. Cargo carriers grounded their McDonnell Douglas MD-11 fleets shortly after, ahead of a directive from the FAA.

    “Regarding the MD-11 fleet, Boeing’s ongoing evaluation shows that inspections and potential repairs will be more extensive than initially expected,” Moore wrote in the memo.

    A UPS spokesperson said in a statement that the company will rely on contingency plans to deliver for customers throughout the peak season, and it “will take the time needed to ensure that every aircraft is safe.”

    The 109 remaining MD-11 airliners, averaging more than 30 years old, are exclusively used to haul cargo for package delivery companies. MD-11s make up about 9% of the UPS airline fleet and 4% of the FedEx fleet.

    Boeing, which took over as the manufacturer of MD-11s since merging with McDonnell Douglas in 1997, said in a statement that it is “working diligently to provide instructions and technical support to operators” so that they can meet the FAA’s requirements.

    The FAA said Boeing will develop the procedures for inspections and any corrective actions, pending approval from the FAA.

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  • Fleet of UPS planes grounded after deadly crash expected to miss peak delivery season

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    A fleet of planes that UPS grounded after a deadly crash isn’t expected to be back in service during the peak holiday season due to inspections and possible repairs, the company said Wednesday in an internal memo.

    The airline expects it will be several months before its McDonnell Douglas MD-11 fleet returns to service as it works to meet Federal Aviation Administration guidelines, said the memo from UPS Airlines president Bill Moore to employees. The process was originally estimated to take weeks but is now expected to take several months.

    A fiery MD-11 plane crash on Nov. 4 in Louisville, Kentucky, killed 14 people and injured at least 23 when the left engine detached during takeoff. Cargo carriers grounded their McDonnell Douglas MD-11 fleets shortly after, ahead of a directive from the FAA.

    “Regarding the MD-11 fleet, Boeing’s ongoing evaluation shows that inspections and potential repairs will be more extensive than initially expected,” Moore wrote in the memo.

    A UPS spokesperson said in a statement that the company will rely on contingency plans to deliver for customers throughout the peak season, and it “will take the time needed to ensure that every aircraft is safe.”

    The 109 remaining MD-11 airliners, averaging more than 30 years old, are exclusively used to haul cargo for package delivery companies. MD-11s make up about 9% of the UPS airline fleet and 4% of the FedEx fleet.

    Boeing, which took over as the manufacturer of MD-11s since merging with McDonnell Douglas in 1997, said in a statement that it is “working diligently to provide instructions and technical support to operators” so that they can meet the FAA’s requirements.

    The FAA said Boeing will develop the procedures for inspections and any corrective actions, pending approval from the FAA.

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  • Indian fighter jet crashes during a demo flight at Dubai Air Show, killing the pilot

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    DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The pilot of an Indian combat plane died after the aircraft crashed Friday during a demonstration flight for spectators at the Dubai Air Show, the Indian Air Force said.

    The Indian HAL Tejas, a combat aircraft used in the Indian Air Force, crashed around 2:10 p.m. local time after the pilot had flown across the site of the biennial air show in Dubai several times.

    The plane appeared to lose control and dive directly toward the ground just prior to crashing inside the grounds of the airfield.

    The Indian Air Force confirmed the crash and said “the pilot sustained fatal injuries in the accident.”

    “IAF deeply regrets the loss of life and stands firmly with the bereaved family in this time of grief,” it said in a statement. It said “a court of inquiry is being constituted, to ascertain the cause of the accident.”

    Black smoke rose over the Al Maktoum International Airport at Dubai World Central as a crowd of spectators watched, and sirens sounded after the crash.

    The city-state’s second airport was hosting the biennial Dubai Air Show, which has seen major aircraft orders by both the long-haul carrier Emirates and its lower-cost sister airline FlyDubai.

    Friday marked the last day of the weeklong air show, and many families had come to a grand stand area of the airport to watch the display.

    “Firefighting and emergency teams responded rapidly to the incident and are currently managing the situation on-site,” the Dubai Media Office, which responds to crises in the sheikhdom, said on X.

    Police and emergency personnel could be seen at the crash site afterward, with firefighting foam sprayed across the road. An SUV bearing diplomatic plates flying the Indian flag also could be seen.

    The air show resumed flight demonstrations about an half and a hour afterward, with the Russian Knights flying overhead as emergency crews still worked the crash site.

    Tejas is India’s indigenous fighter aircraft, built by state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited. The lightweight, single-engine jet is expected to bolster India’s depleted fighter fleet as China expands its military presence in South Asia, including by strengthening defense ties with India’s rival Pakistan.

    In September, India’s Defense Ministry signed a contract with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, or HAL, to procure 97 Tejas jets for the air force. Deliveries are expected to begin in 2027.

    The Indian government also signed a deal with HAL in 2021 for 83 Tejas aircraft. Deliveries, expected last year, have been delayed largely because of shortages of engines that must be imported from the United States.

    On Thursday, India’s Press Information Bureau rejected some social media claims alleging that a Tejas aircraft had experienced an oil leak while on display at the air show. In a statement on X, it called the posts “false” and said they were attempts to undermine the “fighter’s proven technical reliability with baseless propaganda.”

    It was unclear whether the aircraft in question was the one that crashed on Friday.

    A Tejas fighter jet crashed in the western Indian state of Rajasthan last year, but the pilot ejected safely in that incident.

    ___

    Saaliq reported from New Delhi.

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  • Dramatic photos of doomed UPS plane show the aircraft on fire and its engine flying off

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    LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Frame by frame, six photos released by federal investigators on Thursday graphically captured horrifying images of ill-fated Flight 2976 as it turned into a deadly fireball along a Kentucky airport runway.

    The chilling sequence first shows an engine coming loose from the UPS cargo plane during takeoff. The engine pops off the plane as fire erupts in the next image, followed by the blazing engine catapulting off the stricken plane. The final images show the plane ablaze as it gets airborne, leaving behind trails of smoke.

    Moments later, the plane crashed in a massive explosion that killed 14 people — including the three crew members — and carved a path of destruction near Louisville’s airport. Dramatic videos of the crash showed the plane on fire plowing into buildings and generating a massive plume of smoke.

    The photos, from airport surveillance video, were included in a preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board of the Nov. 4 disaster. The images were eerily reminiscent of the dramatic photos of a stricken Air France Concorde before it crashed soon after takeoff outside Paris in 2000.

    As the investigation of the Kentucky crash continues, the preliminary report pointed to evidence of cracks in the left wing’s engine mount. Other photos in the report show component pieces of the plane as investigators look for clues into what caused the disaster.

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  • Dramatic photos of doomed UPS plane show the aircraft on fire and its engine flying off

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    LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Frame by frame, six photos released by federal investigators on Thursday graphically captured horrifying images of ill-fated Flight 2976 as it turned into a deadly fireball along a Kentucky airport runway.

    The chilling sequence first shows an engine coming loose from the UPS cargo plane during takeoff. The engine pops off the plane as fire erupts in the next image, followed by the blazing engine catapulting off the stricken plane. The final images show the plane ablaze as it gets airborne, leaving behind trails of smoke.

    Moments later, the plane crashed in a massive explosion that killed 14 people — including the three crew members — and carved a path of destruction near Louisville’s airport. Dramatic videos of the crash showed the plane on fire plowing into buildings and generating a massive plume of smoke.

    The photos, from airport surveillance video, were included in a preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board of the Nov. 4 disaster. The images were eerily reminiscent of the dramatic photos of a stricken Air France Concorde before it crashed soon after takeoff outside Paris in 2000.

    As the investigation of the Kentucky crash continues, the preliminary report pointed to evidence of cracks in the left wing’s engine mount. Other photos in the report show component pieces of the plane as investigators look for clues into what caused the disaster.

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  • UPS and FedEx grounding MD-11 planes following deadly Kentucky crash

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    LOUISVILLE, Ky. — UPS and FedEx said they are grounding their fleets of McDonnell Douglas MD-11 planes “out of an abundance of caution” following a deadly crash at the UPS global aviation hub in Kentucky.

    The crash Tuesday at UPS Worldport in Louisville killed 14 people, including the three pilots on the MD-11 that was headed for Honolulu.

    MD-11 aircrafts make up about 9% of of the UPS airline fleet and 4% of the FedEx fleet, the companies said.

    “We made this decision proactively at the recommendation of the aircraft manufacturer,” a UPS statement said late Friday. “Nothing is more important to us than the safety of our employees and the communities we serve.”

    FedEx said in an email that it will be grounding the aircrafts while it conducts “a thorough safety review based on the recommendation of the manufacturer.”

    Boeing, which merged with McDonnell Douglas in 1997, did not immediately respond to an email from The Associated Press asking the reasoning behind the recommendation.

    Western Global Airlines is the only other U.S. cargo airline that flies MD-11s, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium. The airline has 16 MD-11s in its fleet but 12 of them have already been put in storage. The company did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment outside of business hours early Saturday.

    Boeing announced in 1998 that it would be phasing out its MD-11 jetliner production, with final deliveries due in 2000.

    The UPS cargo plane, built in 1991, was nearly airborne Tuesday when a bell sounded in the cockpit, National Transportation Safety Board member Todd Inman said earlier Friday. For the next 25 seconds, the bell rang and the pilots tried to control the aircraft as it barely lifted off the runway, its left wing ablaze and missing an engine, and then plowed into the ground in a spectacular fireball.

    The cockpit voice recorder captured the bell, which sounded about 37 seconds after the crew called for takeoff thrust, Inman said. There are different types of alarms with varying meanings, he said, and investigators haven’t determined why the bell rang, though they know the left wing was burning and the engine on that side had detached.

    Inman said it would be months before a transcript of the cockpit recording is made public as part of that investigation process.

    Jeff Guzzetti, a former federal crash investigator, said the bell likely was signaling the engine fire.

    “It occurred at a point in the takeoff where they were likely past their decision speed to abort the takeoff,” Guzzetti told The Associated Press after Inman’s news conference. “They were likely past their critical decision speed to remain on the runway and stop safely. … They’ll need to thoroughly investigate the options the crew may or may not have had.”

    Dramatic video captured the aircraft crashing into businesses and erupting in a fireball. Footage from phones, cars and security cameras has given investigators evidence of what happened from many different angles.

    Flight records suggest the UPS MD-11 that crashed underwent maintenance while it was on the ground in San Antonio for more than a month until mid-October. It is not clear what work was done.

    The UPS package handling facility in Louisville is the company’s largest. The hub employs more than 20,000 people in the region, handles 300 flights daily and sorts more than 400,000 packages an hour.

    UPS Worldport operations resumed Wednesday night with its Next Day Air, or night sort, operation, spokesperson Jim Mayer said.

    ___

    Golden reported from Seattle.

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  • Former colleagues pay tributes to pilots killed in UPS cargo plane crash in Kentucky

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    LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Former colleagues are mourning three pilots killed in a UPS cargo plane crash in Louisville, Kentucky, as relatives of a man who was pulled from the wreckage confirm he’s among those who died.

    Capt. Richard Wartenberg, First Officer Lee Truitt and International Relief Officer Capt. Dana Diamond were on board when the crash happened during takeoff Tuesday at UPS Worldport, the company’s global aviation hub located at Muhammad Ali International Airport.

    At least 11 others died, including Matt Sweets, who suffered widespread burn wounds. Many of the victims still have not been identified.

    Todd Inman of the National Transportation Safety Board, which is leading the ongoing investigation, has said the plane had been cleared for takeoff when a large fire developed in the left wing and an engine fell off. A recording indicates a repeating bell sounded in the cockpit for 25 seconds as pilots tried to control the aircraft, Inman said Friday.

    Dramatic video captured the aircraft crashing into businesses and erupting in a fireball. Footage from phones, cars and security cameras has helped investigators piece together what happened from many different angles.

    From 1994 until 2016, Wartenberg served with the 445th Airlift Wing at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio, according to a statement from the wing.

    The retired lieutenant colonel and former reservist received his commission through Air Force Officer Training School and throughout his career had qualifications in the C-141 Starlifter, C-5 Galaxy and the C-17 Globemaster III. He had logged more than 5,000 military flight hours when he retired as a command pilot, the release said.

    In 2010, he received the Meritorious Service Medal.

    Wartenberg lived in Independence, Kentucky, south of Cincinnati, according to public records.

    He also spent more than two decades as a member of the Ohio Valley Region Porsche Club of America, a group of enthusiasts of Porsche vehicles. The club holds events such as autocrosses and high-performance driving education at regional sports car tracks.

    Truitt had been a pilot for UPS since 2021, flying the MD-11 airliner, and lived in Albuquerque, New Mexico, according to his LinkedIn profile. Before that, he was a captain for SkyWest Airlines and a flight instructor at Bode Aviation. He studied Spanish language and literature at the University of New Mexico and graduated in 2006.

    John H. Bode, the president and CEO of Bode Aviation, called Truitt “a cherished friend, a trusted colleague, and a model of what it means to be a true professional aviator.”

    Truitt “demonstrated an unwavering commitment to excellence, earning the respect and admiration of everyone he worked alongside,” Bode wrote in a statement. “Through diligence, humility, and an unrelenting pursuit of mastery, Lee rose to serve as a Senior Flight Instructor and Charter Pilot, where his discipline, composure, and integrity became the standard by which others measured themselves. His dedication to his craft was matched only by his generosity of spirit — he continually returned to mentor our students and instructors, guiding the next generation of aviators with patience, wisdom, and care.”

    Diamond previously served as commissioner and chief of Bastrop County Emergency Services District No. 1 in Texas. The emergency services agency said in a social media tribute that it was “deeply saddened” by his death.

    “He ran towards danger so the rest of us can step back from it and that kind of devotion to his community leaves a mark on everyone it touches,” the agency said. “He leaves behind not only a legacy of service but also the memories with fellow firefighters and the community he served. His contribution to the citizens of Bastrop County Texas are immeasurable.

    “May his family find comfort in knowing he served our community to make it a better place and may we honor his memory.”

    Diamond lived in Caldwell, Texas, according to public records.

    Matt Sweets, who was badly burned in the blaze and hospitalized, died Thursday afternoon, according to a social media post by his sister, Michelle Sweets.

    “For now, please keep his girlfriend Brooke and his two young children in your prayers as well as the rest of us,” she wrote.

    Carrie Ryan, another sister of Matt Sweets, thanked the “brave man who pulled him from the wreckage and got him to help.” But she said there was nothing anyone could have done to save her brother. She said his children didn’t deserve this.

    “But we will make sure they grow up knowing their dad was the most loyal, kind, and caring man — and how lucky they are to have you watching over them,” she wrote.

    ___

    Mattise and Loller reported from Nashville, Tennessee.

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  • Dramatic videos show the burning UPS cargo plane crash in a massive fireball

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    LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Videos from phones, cars and security cameras captured the tragic final moments of a UPS cargo plane as it caught fire and crashed in a massive explosion just outside Louisville’s airport, killing at least 12 people and carving a path of destruction on the ground.

    A large UPS cargo plane with three people aboard crashed Tuesday while taking off from an airport in Louisville, Kentucky, igniting an explosion and massive fire.

    Plumes of smoke rise from the area of a UPS cargo plane crash at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport, on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025, in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry)

    A fireball erupts near airport property after reports of a plane crash at Louisville International Airport, Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025, in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry)

    A fireball erupts near airport property after reports of a plane crash at Louisville International Airport, Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025, in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry)

    The videos provide investigators and the public with many different angles of the plane going down Tuesday in an area dotted with scrap yards and UPS facilities. No one expects to find survivors.

    The plane had been cleared for takeoff from UPS Worldport, the company’s global aviation hub, when a large fire developed in the left wing and an engine fell off, said Todd Inman, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board, which is leading the investigation.

    One video of the crash taken by a vehicle’s dashcam shows flames and smoke trailing from the wing as the jet barely clears a road, clips a building and vanishes behind an eruption of black smoke.

    The grim task of finding and identifying victims from the firestorm that followed a UPS cargo plane crash in Louisville, Kentucky, entered a third day Thursday as investigators gathered information to determine why the aircraft caught fire and lost an engine on takeoff.

    Another video from a business security camera captures the deafening sound of the plane’s impact and a wall of fire and black smoke. As the flames grow, a smaller blast ripples through the wreckage as sirens begin to echo in the distance.

    Surveillance video from a truck parts business near the Louisville airport shows large flames and plumes of smoke as the UPS plane crashes. The disaster killed at least 12 people on the plane and on the ground.

    The blaze stretched nearly a city block and destroyed much of the plane’s fuselage, fire officials have said.

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    In yet another recording, the UPS plane can be seen lifting off the runway already on fire, then disappearing seconds later in an orange fireball.

    From a nearby street, a driver filmed the explosion and thick black smoke above nearby buildings. The smoke fills the sky as the vehicle backs away. Other videos from the street show a pillar of black smoke towering over buildings and traffic in the area as sirens echo and lights from emergency vehicles flash.

    A UPS plane crashed on takeoff from the airport in Louisville, Kentucky, igniting a huge fire on ground, officials said Tuesday.

    The recordings of the crash have deepened the shock and grief among other UPS pilots, said Independent Pilots Association President Robert Travis. The union represents 3,500 pilots who fly for UPS.

    “We’re just all heartbroken,” he said. “This is a tragedy that is even highlighted further by the video that’s out there circulating around the world due to the catastrophic, violent nature of the accident itself.”

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  • Shipping delays expected after UPS cargo plane crash

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    NEW YORK — The UPS cargo plane crash on Tuesday at the company’s global aviation hub in Kentucky, which killed at least nine, will temporarily disrupt the supply chain and result in some shipping delays.

    But UPS says it has contingency plans in place, and experts say the impact should be cleared up before the peak holiday season.

    The plane crashed Tuesday evening as it was departing for Honolulu from UPS Worldport, UPS’ largest shipping hub, at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport. Package sorting at the center was halted late Tuesday and the halt continued on Wednesday. About 416,000 packages can be sorted at the facility per hour, according to a UPS fact sheet.

    Consumers who want to check on their UPS packages can wait to hear from the company or look up tracking details online.

    Tom Goldsby, professor of supply chain management at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, said UPS will most likely step up flights to its regional hubs to offset Worldport’s closure.

    The hubs are “going to take on a greater burden until that critical operation in Louisville gets back to the full capacity,” he said.

    UPS said in a statement that it has contingency plans in place to help ensure that shipments arrive at their final destinations as quickly as conditions permit, but did not give specifics on what the plans were.

    Goldsby said UPS will be under pressure to resolve any delays before the peak holiday season.

    “It’s an issue that they quickly want to resolve, but they are going to have to do their due diligence in resolving the current crisis,” he said.

    He himself was expecting a UPS package from Oregon routed through Worldport today, but got a message that it would have to be rescheduled.

    “I understand the circumstance and will gladly receive it when it arrives,” he said, adding patience will be needed for others expecting packages. “People and businesses don’t have a lot of understanding (about the supply chain). We just don’t expect our logistics operations to have a calamity or even a bad day.″

    The crash comes as UPS works on a turnaround, focusing less on Amazon deliveries and more on business-to-business deliveries. In its most recent earnings report last week, the company said it has cut 48,000 jobs in the year to date and closed some buildings as part of its turnaround. Its third-quarter results beat expectations.

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  • What to know about the deadly UPS plane crash in Kentucky

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    LOUISVILLE, Ky. — At least seven people are dead and 11 others injured after a UPS cargo plane caught fire and crashed Tuesday while taking off from the company’s distribution hub in Louisville, leaving a trail of flames near the runway.

    The McDonnell Douglas MD-11, built in 1991, went down around 5:15 p.m. after its left wing caught fire. It was fully loaded with fuel for the long flight to Honolulu from UPS Worldport. The facility at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport has some 300 daily flights.

    Four of the people killed were on the ground, Louisville Fire Chief Brian O’Neill said. The victims have not been identified. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said the 11 people who were hurt suffered “very significant” injuries.

    Here’s what is known about the crash.

    Video showed flames on the plane’s left wing and a trail of smoke as it lifted briefly off the ground before crashing in a massive fireball. Residents who heard loud booms captured footage of multiple explosions and heavy smoke rising over the airport.

    The fire chief said the blaze stretched nearly a city block. There was no hazardous cargo on board, officials said.

    Fire and debris quickly spread over an industrial area adjacent to the end of the runway, and parts of a nearby building’s roof appeared shredded. Satellite photos of the neighborhood show a wide a parking lot and large water tanks in the vicinity.

    Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg told WLKY-TV that crews were preparing to resume the search for victims Wednesday. A shelter-in-place order that initially covered a one-mile radius was reduced to a quarter mile as air quality improved.

    There was no hazardous cargo on board, officials said.

    UPS has said the National Transportation Safety Board will handle the crash investigation.

    Louisville is home to UPS’s largest package handling facility, which employs thousands of workers and sorts more than 400,000 packages an hour. The company said it was halting package sorting operations Tuesday night at the facility and did not indicate when operations would resume.

    The Louisville airport shut down after the crash but began to resume operations Wednesday morning. Flights canceled Tuesday were prioritized for departure, although some Wednesday flights remained grounded.

    In May 2017, a propeller plane carrying UPS cargo that took off from Louisville crashed at West Virginia International Yeager Airport in Charleston, killing the pilot and co-pilot.

    Aviation attorney Pablo Rojas said video of the crash suggests the plane struggled to gain altitude as fire blazed along its left side near an engine.

    “There’s very little to contain the flames, and really the plane itself is almost acting like a bomb because of the amount of fuel,” he said.

    He said it’s hard to know if the pilot saw the flames, and that even if the crew realized there was a problem, aborting the takeoff might’ve been even more dangerous.

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  • Training and competition flights collided in fatal August crash at northern Colorado airport

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    A training flight and a pilot engaged in an “aerobatic competition” crashed in August at northern Colorado’s Fort Morgan Municipal Airport, killing one pilot and injuring three others, according to federal investigators.

    The two planes — a Cessna 172 and an Extra Flugzeugbau EA300, each carrying a pilot and a safety pilot — were trying to land on the same runway at the airport when they crashed and caught fire at about 10:40 a.m. on Aug. 31, according to a preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board.

    Federal investigators said the Cessna pilot was conducting flight instrument training at the airport with a safety pilot aboard, and he made multiple radio calls to alert the airport to his arrival.

    He heard two other airplanes in the traffic pattern, and that one had already landed, as he continued to approach, according to the report.

    The Extra 300 pilot was one of several competing at the airport that day, investigators said. He also made several radio calls stating his plan to land on runway 14, where the crash happened, after completing his flight sequence.

    According to the report, the Extra 300 pilot heard another competitor would be landing before him, but didn’t hear any other planes in the traffic pattern. The Extra 300 pilot told investigators that the Cessna appeared below him on final approach, with no time to maneuver or avoid the collision.

    The crashed planes came to a stop next to each other, off the edge of the runway, federal investigators said. A line of wreckage and debris extended roughly 500 feet from the planes, including separated wings and propellers.

    Both people in the Cessna exited the plane with minor injuries, according to NTSB. The Extra 300 pilot sustained serious injuries but was able to get out of his aircraft. Federal officials said a post-crash fire prevented him from saving the safety pilot still trapped inside.

    The safety pilot, 35-year-old Kristen Morris of Denver, died from her injuries, according to the International Aerobatic Club, which was hosting the competition that day.

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  • 2 killed in single-engine plane crash at Erie Municipal Airport

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    Two people died Sunday when a small plane crashed at Erie Municipal Airport in northern Colorado, according to the police department.

    “We are heartbroken to share that there were no survivors in the single-engine plane crash that occurred earlier today, east of the Erie Municipal Airport runway,” police said in an 8:55 p.m. statement.

    The plane’s two occupants were not Colorado residents, police said. The pair’s identities had not been released as of Monday morning.

    The crash happened at about 3:45 p.m. Sunday, Erie Police Department spokesperson Amber Luttrell said.

    Investigators with the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board were working to identify the cause of the crash, she said. As of Sunday evening, the Erie Municipal Airport at 395 Airport Drive remained closed for the investigation.

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