Satellite Images Show the Deadly Impact of the UPS Plane Crash

2025-11-07T09:23:01Z

A UPS cargo plane crashed near Louisville on Tuesday, killing at least 12 people.
The plane hit businesses and warehouses in an industrial area a few miles south of the airport.
Satellite images show the destruction left behind.

The UPS cargo plane crash left a trail of destruction in an industrial area near Louisville’s Muhammad Ali International Airport, new satellite images show.

At least 12 people, including many on the ground, were killed after the McDonnell Douglas MD-11 crashed shortly after takeoff on Tuesday. The black boxes, which hold cockpit voice and flight data, have since been recovered.

Videos show UPS Flight 2976 banking left as it crashed. Officials from the National Transportation Safety Board said the plane’s left engine detached entirely during takeoff.

There were three crew members on board the plane, which was bound for Honolulu. Officials said the up to nine-hour journey meant the jet was carrying 220,000 pounds of fuel, or about 38,000 gallons.

The immense volume of fuel contributed to the massive fireball and smoke plume that erupted from the wrecked plane just three miles south of the airport.

See the satellite images of the crash site, provided by the commercial imagery provider Vantor, before and after the accident.

Louisville’s Muhammad Ali International Airport shut down on Tuesday after the crash of UPS Flight 2976.

This is an image of the Louisville airport.

Satellite image ©2025 Vantor

Dozens of flights were canceled, and passengers were forced to spend the night or find alternate means of travel.

The airport opened to traffic again on Wednesday.

Video stills show the plane banking hard to the left before crashing.

UPS cargo plane crash — A screenshot of a social media video shows the UPS cargo plane banking left in the moment of the crash.

Kentucky Truck Parts & Service via Reuters

A screenshot of a social media video posted by Reuters showed the UPS plane banking hard to the left as it crashed and was engulfed in fire and smoke.

Photos posted online show the engine landed next to the runway.

This is what the area south of the runway looked like in September.

An industrial area near Louisville Airport on September 29, 2025, taken from a satellite — Vantor has rotated the satellite images, so north is on the left side of the image.

Satellite image ©2025 Vantor

The plane crashed about three miles south of the airport in an industrial area with businesses and warehouses.

And on Wednesday, images showed a trail of damage that was about 2,800 feet long.

A satellite view of the UPS plane crash site near Louisville Airport — The plane slid some 2,800 feet (850 meters).

Satellite image ©2025 Vantor

The runway it departed from, Runway 17R, is just off the bottom left of this image.

Some businesses hit include Kentucky Petroleum Recycling and Grade A Auto Parts.

The plane appeared to first collide with this UPS warehouse adjacent to the end of the runway.

A satellite view of a damaged building next to the runway at Louisville Airport on November 5 — This is a UPS logistics warehouse, and people were on-site at the time of the crash.

Satellite image ©2025 Vantor

It left a 295-foot (90-meter) gash in the warehouse roof, Vantor said.

Here’s the exact flight path.

The flight path of the UPS plane from the terminal to the crash site. — The plane only managed to climb a couple of hundred feet before crashing, according to Flightradar24.

Yasin Demirci/Anadolu via Getty Images

Data from Flightradar24 suggests Flight 2976 only reached a maximum altitude of around 175 feet.

Here is a closer shot of the widespread damage.

A satellite view of an industrial area near Louisville Airport with debris after the UPS plane crash — Cars and buildings have been destroyed.

Satellite image ©2025 Vantor

Officials say there are still at least nine people unaccounted for, as of Thursday afternoon.

Smoke covered the city for hours on Tuesday.

Image of smoke across the city after the UPS crash. — The smoke across the city after the UPS crash.

LEANDRO LOZADA/AFP via Getty Images

The city initially issued a shelter-in-place notice for a five-mile radius around the airport. That extended to anything north of the airport to the Ohio River as emergency responders worked to contain the fire.

The order has since been reduced to a small radius around the hazardous area of the crash site.

The cause of the crash is unknown, but the NTSB said the jet lost its left engine during takeoff.

A UPS MD-11 cargo plane landing at a airport — This is not the specific aircraft involved in the crash. The accident plane was N259UP.

Christian Junker/Getty Images

NTSB official J. Todd Inman said on Wednesday that CCTV footage shows “the left engine detaching from the wing during the takeoff roll.” Takeoff roll is the runway distance from start to liftoff.

Mark Stephens, a former MD-11 pilot and instructor at Delta Air Lines, told Business Insider that it’s rare, but the engine is designed to shear off an aircraft during intense vibration.

This prevents the engine from hitting the wing, fuselage, or other critical components. The MD-11 has three engines, including one below its vertical stabilizer. Stephens said the MD-11 can fly with just two engines.

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