NTSB Official Stresses ‘Very Active Day’ in UPS Crash Investigation

Recovery efforts and flight data analysis continue for deadly cargo plane accident.

Meg Godlewski

Thursday, November 06, 2025 at 05:21 PM ET

Verified

Edited By:

Ryan Ewing

UPS MD-11 freighter [Credit: Jim Allen/FreightWaves]

Key Takeaways:

The NTSB is actively investigating the UPS MD-11 crash, confirming 12 fatalities, 15 injuries, and 9 missing, with family support and recovery of missing individuals as a top priority.
Both the Flight Data Recorder (FDR) and Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) have been successfully recovered and downloaded, providing critical data for analysis, along with preliminary ADS-B flight information.
Initial findings indicate the aircraft's left engine (No. 1) disintegrated and separated from the wing during takeoff, causing a fire; maintenance records are under review, but no immediate pre-flight maintenance issues were reported.

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National Transportation Safety Board member Todd Inman said “it’s been a very active day” during a press conference Thursday to update the investigation into the UPS MD-11 crash in Louisville, Kentucky.

Inman noted the NTSB has put together a multidisciplinary team and brought in additional specialists who can help piece together the situation that led to Tuesday’s deadly accident that killed at least 12 people and injured 15.