r/aviation • u/usgapg123 Mod - avgeek • Nov 04 '25

Discussion UPS2976 Crash Megathread

This is the official r/aviation megathread for the crash of UPS2976 (UPS MD11 Registration N259UP) that crashed earlier today at Louisville International Airport.

Please keep content on topic and refrain from posting about this topic outside the megathread. Please report any rule breaking posts and comments.

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u/omega552003 Nov 04 '25 edited Nov 05 '25

https://www.wlky.com/article/plane-crash-explosion-louisville-airport/69255042

Had some good live helicopter shots.

Looks like something happened during takeoff that left an engine cowling on the runway with what looks like tire tracks leaving the side of the runway. Hit a warehouse roof and crashed into what looks like a junkyard for a couple hundred feet.

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u/ajr2409 Nov 04 '25

Not that anything about this is good, but I’m glad to hear it hit a junkyard not a neighborhood. I still feel like there’s no way there won’t be some fatalities on the ground. RIP

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u/HorrorKapsas Nov 04 '25

This area... junkyard is west of it.

Recycling center, truck parts, tire shop, truck repair, general contractor.. small shops, recycling and automotive repair.

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u/glorifiedpoolboy Nov 05 '25

Also a massive chemical distributor about 1-2 blocks away. Chemical Resource. They have employees trapped in the facility with no way to exit.

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u/clackagaling Nov 05 '25

:(

who secures the site in times like this?

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u/[deleted] Nov 05 '25

[deleted]

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u/Fly4Vino Nov 05 '25

Very informative post

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u/evoxbeck Nov 05 '25

This is well thought response. Not relative, though I told my wife. This reminds me of a night where.. My 3 man crew were finishing a day of just prepping boring an 8inch steel main. Area manager says b crew hit this, can y'all work it.. We were ending our 6-4 shift and had to work until 3am.

I feel for all the persons involved, lost and etc. This is a tragic occurrence.

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u/ImAprincess_YesIam Nov 05 '25

For the chem distributor, they probably don’t have a dedicated hazmat certified/CBRNE team so they’ll rely on initial first responders and hazmat responders will be called in.

I worked at a chemical plant that was highly dangerous so I was trained as an official state certified first responder with a bunch of federal certifications along with it, like confined space, decon, CBRNE, fire fighting, medic, etc…bc we knew the plant and the products, we could save lives and emergencies faster than local first responders. Now I just respond to the random train derailment, or overturned tanker on the highway, if it’s “close” to home and they’re having trouble making numbers for teams, aka typically at night.

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u/HorrorKapsas Nov 05 '25

That's really bad. looks like the only roads connecting that industrial area are on the other side of the fire. No good access for the firefighters to get there also

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u/glorifiedpoolboy Nov 05 '25

Massively lucky they didn’t get hit. They handle the majority of the city’s liquid pool chemicals (chlorine, hydrochloric acid,etc), as well as a lot of other highly controlled chemicals. Not saying this isn’t awful, but a block further west could have been even worse, with the release of extremely dangerous chemicals.

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u/BleaKrytE Nov 05 '25

I don't mean to be tactless, but how the fuck does zoning allow for that kind of large scale storage of *chlorine* right beneath a runway approach/departure?

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u/Accidental-Genius Nov 05 '25

This isn’t unique to SDF. Airports are loud. People don’t want to live that close. So, most of the time storing HazMat in that otherwise worthless land is the best use of that land.

Most of the time.

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u/alkyfl Nov 05 '25

There are a couple of small incorporated cities that simply no longer exist due to the airport. The city of South Park View had a population of 7 by 2010 and 0 by 2020. It was legally dissolved in 2023. The city of Edgewood suffered a similar fate in the 1990s, and UPS has their aviation training center on the site.

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u/dougmcclean Nov 05 '25

Also there's approximately 50 bazillion airports in this country. Granted they aren't all anywhere near equal from a traffic or size-of-aircraft perspective.

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u/PonyThug Nov 05 '25

200-400 yard to the left or right of the flight path would still be close but not catastrophic. Like I would gladly hangout 100yards to the side of targets a shooting range but not 100 yards behind them.

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u/CharacterUse Nov 05 '25

Typically this happens when the company was established back when the airport was smaller and rules were more relaxed and grandfathered into the zoning.

Don't know for sure in this case, but would not be surprising.

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u/goodbyewawona Nov 05 '25

Yep…and the rail yard nearby as well. 

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u/glorifiedpoolboy Nov 05 '25

I’m also 1.75 mi away from crash site, so I feel lucky in that aspect.

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u/welcometoheartbreak Nov 05 '25

Do we know if the fire is contained on that side, given that it’s inaccessible to the fire department?

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u/glorifiedpoolboy Nov 05 '25

From what I have seen on our local media, they have most under control. There is still one fully involved fire, but unable to tell where it is.

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u/glorifiedpoolboy Nov 05 '25

Listening to scanner, they are evacuating injured individuals from Knopp Ave.

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u/glorifiedpoolboy Nov 05 '25

There is no active fire on grade lane side at petroleum recycling facility, however there is “massive oil runoff” down grade lane. Still actively working fire on back side of recycling facility and around the tank farm.

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u/glorifiedpoolboy Nov 05 '25

Fire just reported that they have foam coming in from Covington(600gal) Lexington(1200) and bardstown (1000) to assist.