Investigators say UPS plane that crashed in Kentucky, killing 14, had cracks in engine mount

Federal investigators released dramatic photos Thursday of an engine flying off a doomed UPS cargo plane that crashed two weeks ago in Kentucky, killing 14 people, and said there was evidence of cracks in the left wing's engine mount.

A series of six photos showed the rear of the engine starting to detach before it flew up and over the wing as flames erupted. The next image shows the wing engulfed by fire as the burning engine flies above it. The last image shows the plane starting to get airborne.

But the MD-11 plane only got 30 feet (9.1 meters) off the ground, the National Transportation Safety Board said, citing the flight data recorder in its first formal but preliminary report about the Nov. 4 disaster in Louisville, Kentucky.

Three pilots on the plane were killed along with 11 more people on the ground near Muhammad Ali International Airport.

The NTSB said the plane was not due yet for a detailed inspection of key engine mount parts that had fractures. It still needed to complete nearly 7,000 more takeoffs and landings. It was last examined in October 2021.

“It appears UPS was conducting this maintenance within the required time frame, but I’m sure the FAA is now going to ponder whether that time frame is adequate,” former federal crash investigator Jeff Guzzetti told The Associated Press after reading the report.

It's not clear when the cracks started to develop on the 34-year-old plane and whether they could have been missed in that earlier inspection. Another aviation expert, John Cox, described fatigue cracks as "normal wear and tear on an aircraft.”

He said a metal part, like the engine mount that vibrates every time the plane flies, will eventually develop cracks. Cox noted it's just a question of how often those parts need to be inspected and what maintenance is required.

The NTSB report revealed the first new details since board member Todd Inman briefed reporters on Nov. 7. He said the cockpit voice recorder captured an alarm bell going off about 37 seconds after the UPS crew called for takeoff thrust.

“It’s one thing to be involved in a natural disaster and another thing to be involved in a man-made, human error tragedy, and that’s what we believe this is,” said Sean Garber, who looked at the report and whose auto salvage yard near the airport took a direct hit.

All MD-11s used by UPS, FedEx and Western Global — along with a few related DC-10s — were grounded after the crash until they can be inspected and repaired, but the Federal Aviation Administration hasn't said what will be required.

Cox said those air carriers “are going to have to make some hard decisions” because they were already planning to retire the planes in the next few years.

“If you have to pull the engines off and do some sort of visual inspection or replacement, that’s going to run into a significant cost," he said.

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

Earlier this week, Bill Moore, president of UPS Airlines, an arm of UPS, said the company is working with investigators to determine the key cause of the crash.

“Once we determine that, then they’ll be able to develop an inspection plan,” Moore said at a news conference in Louisville. “Can we inspect it? If so, how do we repair it? How do we put it back together? And then eventually return the fleet to service. But that’s not going to happen quickly.”

The NTSB report said there was a similar event in Chicago in 1979 when an American Airlines DC-10 crash killed 273 people. The DC-10 was the predecessor of the MD-11.

“The left engine and pylon assembly and about 3 ft of the leading edge of the left wing separated from the airplane and fell to the runway,” the report said.

Former federal crash investigator Alan Diehl said he hopes the Federal Aviation Administration reevaluates plane maintenance schedules and considers high-tech methods to examine metal, not just visual inspections.

“It is clear that engine pylon attachment failures are these aircraft’s Achilles' heels,” Diehl said.

The MD-11 and the DC-10 have some of the highest accident rates of any commercial planes, according to statistics published annually by Boeing.

Meanwhile, mourning continued in Louisville, more than two weeks after the tragedy. The Louisville Orchestra was presenting a free concert Thursday evening.

“Music brings comfort," Music Director Teddy Abrams said.

Associated Press writer Bruce Schreiner in Louisville, Kentucky, contributed to this report.

FILE - This photo provided by the National Transportation Safety Board shows UPS plane crash scene on Nov. 6, 2025 in Louisville, Ky. (NTSB via AP)

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and other top officials have gathered to discuss preparations for the ruling party's first full congress in five years, state media reported Wednesday. The top-level meeting will set new priorities as the U.S. and South Korea seek a resumption of talks with North Korea.

The Korean Central News Agency reported that Kim presided over a plenary meeting of the Workers Party's Central Committee on Tuesday. It said participants began discussing unspecified key issues related to the party congress and reviewing this year's state policies.

KCNA gave no further details, but observers say the plenary meeting will likely last a few days and set an official agenda for the party congress, which is expected to be held in January or February.

The congress, the top decision-making organ of the Workers’ Party, was revived by Kim in 2016 after a 36-year hiatus. Experts say Kim aimed to increase the party’s authority as part of efforts to solidify his grip on power.

The focus of outside attention on the congress is whether Kim will respond to U.S. and South Korean efforts to improve ties. North Korea has steadfastly rebuffed the U.S. and South Korea's calls to resume talks since Kim's high-stakes nuclear diplomacy with President Donald Trump collapsed in 2019, but some experts say Kim could return to talk with the U.S. next year.

In an apparent response to Trump's repeated outreach, Kim suggested in September that he could return to talks if the U.S. drops “its delusional obsession with denuclearization” of North Korea.

Meanwhile, South Korea's military said North Korea fired several artillery rounds off the North's west coast on Tuesday. Observers say the artillery launches were likely part of the North Korean military's wintertime training.

Last year, Kim declared that his country was abandoning its long-standing goal of peaceful unification with South Korea and ordered the rewriting of the North’s constitution to mark the South as a permanent enemy.

In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, center, attends a plenary meeting of the Workers Party's Central Committee in North Korea, Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: "KCNA" which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)