National Transportation Safety Board investigators have found the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder from the UPS MD-11 cargo jet that crashed during takeoff Tuesday afternoon in Louisville, Kentucky, and have begun collecting other evidence as they work to determine the accident’s probable cause.
The investigation will take at least a week to complete, but investigators want to move as fast as possible so UPS can resume transporting goods that the U.S. economy depends on, said NTSB member Todd Inman during a live-streamed media briefing.
“Not only is this a company that moves freight. They are delivering life-saving drugs, postal products, food, supplements, you name it, that come through this hub every night. And so we’ve been emphasizing making sure we gather every piece of perishable evidence and doing it in the most diligent way, but at the same time understanding that this investigation could slow down a lot of important products, not just for this company, but for Americans across this country and across the world,” Inman said. “And we have to be cognizant of that. That’s the reason we’re working so diligently today to try and do the mapping [and collection of debris]” that could hinder airport operations.
Drones will be used to help identify and tag every piece of evidence at the airfield and the surrounding crash zone. The faster evidence can be collected the sooner airport officials can reopen the west runway. The airport is currently functioning with a single available runway.
UPS this morning canceled the daytime air sort for deferred cargo at its Worldport hub after closing down the express delivery operation Tuesday night. Priority Mail shipments are likely to be delayed in the coming days because UPS is the primary air cargo carrier for the U.S. Postal Service.
Inman provided a tick-tock of events leading up to the catastrophic crash of the MD-11 converted freighter, which was manufactured in 1991. After being cleared for takeoff, a large plume of fire in the area of the left wing occurred during the takeoff roll. The plane lifted off and gained enough altitude to clear the fence at the end of Runway 17 R. Shortly after clearing the fence, it slammed into buildings just outside the airport property. The impact created a large fire that covered almost a half of a mile. The plane was fully loaded with 38,000 gallons of fuel and one of the properties it hit was a petroleum recycling plant with tanks full of oil and propane.
Footage from airport security cameras shows the left engine detaching from the wing during the takeoff roll down the runway.
The MD-11 had three crew members onboard, according to UPS. Authorities say they have confirmed at least nine fatalities so far.
The black box is expected to provide critical information for determining the cause of the accident. Although the recorders were exposed to high heat, Inman expressed confidence that the NTSB’s lab in Washington, D.C., will be able to get a good readout of the data. It will take several days before any information can be gleaned from them.
NTSB teams will analyze every aspect of the accident, including the aircraft’s flight history, the crew members’ duties in the days before the crash, the airframe wreckage, the accident scene, the engines; hydraulic, electrical, pneumatic and flight control systems; instruments and maintenance history.
The NTSB usually provides a preliminary factual report within 30 days of an accident, but a full investigation can take a year or more. The report will look at how and why the accident happened and recommend any necessary changes to prevent similar events.
UPS closes Worldport hub operations, delaying shipments
(UPDATED 10:35 a.m. ET, Nov. 5, 2025)
Shipping delays across the UPS parcel and freight network are expected to increase this week after UPS said that Wednesday’s day shift at its global air hub in Louisville, Kentucky, has been canceled following yesterday’s devastating crash of a widebody UPS cargo jet.
UPS (NYSE: UPS) said the second-day air sort at Worldport has been canceled and that warehouse and ramp workers should not report to work. The second-day sort refers to less urgent shipments that have a two-day delivery window and mostly get processed during daytime hours. UPS on Tuesday canceled its overnight shift that handles express packages.
Priority Mail deliveries will likely be disrupted in the coming days because UPS is the primary air cargo carrier for the U.S. Postal Service.
About 360 inbound and outbound flights circulate through Worldport on an average day bringing packages and heavy freight from around the world to be transshipped by air or truck to their final destinations across the United States and other countries. The facility has capacity to process 416,000 packages and documents per hour, but usually handles less than that in a normal day. With overnight sorting lasting about three hours it’s estimated that UPS moves more than 1 million parcels through the hub each day.
“As a result [of the incident], scheduled delivery times for air and international packages may be affected,” UPS said in a service bulletin late Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport reopened Wednesday morning with one runway. The second runway is closed while the accident investigation continues. A team from the National Transportation Safety Board is expected to arrive in Louisville soon.
Sixteen families are reporting that they have loved ones missing following the late-afternoon crash of a widebody UPS freighter jet into an industrial zone just beyond the West runway at Louisville International Airport, Kentucky Gov. Andy Breshear reported Wednesday morning.
Nine people are now confirmed dead, Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said in an interview on CNN. Authorities have previously counted 11 people who have been injured, some of them seriously and say they expect the death toll and injuries to rise.
The tri-engine MD-11 cargo jet crashed around 5:15 p.m. ET, according to authorities. The widebody cargo jet was bound for Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu, the Federal Aviation Administration said. Cell phone videos posted online showed an apparent fire in the plane’s left engine as it tried to lift off.
UPS said three crew members were onboard the freighter.
Social media posts show the tri-engine plane erupting in flames on impact with the ground. WLKY local news helicopter video shows the plane crashed into a group of warehouses and industrial buildings beyond the runway near Grade Lane, with flames and black smoke continuing to grow as fuel catches on fire. The destruction is widespread. Among the properties that were struck were Kentucky Petroleum Recycling, which had tanks full of propane and oil, and Grade-A Auto Parts. A photo posted on Reddit shows a large warehouse with a major gash where the plane made impact. Grade-A Auto Parts has reported that two employees are missing and unaccounted for, Beshear said.
First responders worked through the night trying to put out the flames and search for survivors. A stay-in-place order around the airport has been reduced to a quarter-mile radius as the hazardous smoke levels have dissipated, but authorities continue to monitor the air quality.
“We are terribly saddened by the accident tonight in Louisville. Our heartfelt thoughts are with everyone involved. UPS is committed to the safety of our employees, our customers and the communities we serve. This is particularly true in Louisville, home to our airline and thousands of UPSers,” UPS said in a statement.
The Regional Air Cargo Carriers Association issued a statement expressing its condolences to all who have been impacted by the accident.
“The entire regional air cargo community stands united in offering our support, thoughts and prayers to our friends and colleagues at UPS, and to the first responders involved in the rescue and recovery efforts,” RACCA President Jim Goddard said.
Click here for more FreightWaves stories by Eric Kulisch.
(Correction: An early version of this story said UPS handles more than 400,000 packages per day at Worldport. That figure represents the hourly capacity.)
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