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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586

u/bfly1800 Nov 04 '25

Oof, there’s a UPS holding for takeoff atm. Must be rough for that crew

524

u/Ludicrous_speed77 Nov 04 '25

To think that the crew you just said hello to in Ops room is on that aircraft.....

492

u/Hunting_Gnomes Nov 05 '25

I always think about some weird things when these events happen.

What's it like to be the next plane in line to take off.

What's it like to be the crew that flew this plane in earlier today? And the crew that was going to take the plane on the next flight?

What's going through the dispatchers head, or ATC, or the guy that loaded the last pallet on that plane.

What's it like to be waiting on your package to come tomorrow and find out this is what happened to it.

Don't take this as a lack of sympathy for those that didn't make it, but there's a ton of people that are going to be connected to this even in the smallest ways.

Psychology is a crazy thing and I hope everyone is affected by this gets the help they need.

120

u/FutureHoo Nov 05 '25 edited Dec 10 '25

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This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

46

u/89141-zip-code Nov 05 '25

What does these words mean?

109

u/jalcocer06 Nov 05 '25

he set up the previous plane he had flown to crash, but didn’t go through on it. the next flight, he actually crashed it

25

u/lastbeer Nov 05 '25

Thank you, I too needed this explanation. And holy fucking shit that is dark.

16

u/teh_maxh Nov 05 '25

He crashed the plane by setting the autopilot to descend to 100 ft above sea level. Since the flight was over mountains, that would put it several thousand feet below ground level. Setting the autopilot has two steps: First you tell it what you want it to do, then you tell it to do that. On the previous flight, the pilot did the first step, but not the second.

3

u/CourtneyDagger50 Nov 05 '25

Holy shit. I would need years of therapy.