New photos show engine falling off UPS cargo plane before Louisville crash

The National Transportation Safety Board released dramatic frame-by-frame photos showing an engine of a UPS cargo plane detaching shortly before it crashed in Louisville, Kentucky, earlier this month, killing 14 people.

The six images, released Thursday as part of the NTSB's preliminary investigative report into the crash, show the left engine separating from the left wing and a fire igniting as the plane begins to lift off the ground.

Three of the cargo plane's crew members died in the crash, which happened just outside Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport on Nov. 4.

The Federal Aviation Administration has grounded all McDonnell Douglas MD-11s, the plane’s model, in the aftermath of the crash.

The NTSB's preliminary report details fractures within the plane’s hardware connecting the left engine to the left wing.

“After initial cleaning of the fracture surfaces, examination of the left pylon aft mount lug fractures found evidence of fatigue cracks in addition to areas of overstress failure,” the report states.

For Subscribers

FOR SUBSCRIBERSA sluggish Congress punts a long list of tasks until after the election

FOR SUBSCRIBERSIt’s rarely been harder for people to find new jobs

FOR SUBSCRIBERS‘Some of the medication has worn off’: Witness recalls failed Tennessee execution of Christa Pike

FOR SUBSCRIBERS‘Couldn’t let all of them die’: Hero Indian pilot attacked midair speaks for first time

FOR SUBSCRIBERSHow Trump’s homelessness crackdown became a sweeping retreat from disability rights

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation pushes embattled New York prosecutor into national spotlight

FOR SUBSCRIBERSJudge guts noncitizen voting law used in Trump administration’s election push

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump to campaign in at least 17 states ahead of the midterms

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThe prosecutor at the center of the Cornell maelstrom

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCBP leaders cut out of Trump ad buy decision

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAmerican passenger drafted goodbye texts to her family as Flydubai plane plummeted

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAbdul El-Sayed tries to woo MAHA voters as Democrats seek inroads with RFK’s supporters

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKratom-like substances are popping up in a typically benign supplement

FOR SUBSCRIBERSGOP super PAC increases its spending for Sen. Jon Husted in tough Ohio race

FOR SUBSCRIBERSRecords reveal tumultuous marriage between slain New York Times executive and wife

For Subscribers

FOR SUBSCRIBERSA sluggish Congress punts a long list of tasks until after the election

FOR SUBSCRIBERSIt’s rarely been harder for people to find new jobs

FOR SUBSCRIBERS‘Some of the medication has worn off’: Witness recalls failed Tennessee execution of Christa Pike

FOR SUBSCRIBERS‘Couldn’t let all of them die’: Hero Indian pilot attacked midair speaks for first time

FOR SUBSCRIBERSHow Trump’s homelessness crackdown became a sweeping retreat from disability rights

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation pushes embattled New York prosecutor into national spotlight

FOR SUBSCRIBERSJudge guts noncitizen voting law used in Trump administration’s election push

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump to campaign in at least 17 states ahead of the midterms

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThe prosecutor at the center of the Cornell maelstrom

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCBP leaders cut out of Trump ad buy decision

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAmerican passenger drafted goodbye texts to her family as Flydubai plane plummeted

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAbdul El-Sayed tries to woo MAHA voters as Democrats seek inroads with RFK’s supporters

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKratom-like substances are popping up in a typically benign supplement

FOR SUBSCRIBERSGOP super PAC increases its spending for Sen. Jon Husted in tough Ohio race

FOR SUBSCRIBERSRecords reveal tumultuous marriage between slain New York Times executive and wife

The plane's right engine was found still attached to the right wing at the accident site.

The report says that the airplane "initially climbed but did not get higher than about 30 ft above ground level" before crashing into a storage yard and two buildings, including a petroleum recycling facility, that were consumed by the explosion.

Satellite images show the debris field from the explosion extending more than half a mile.

Video of the crash posted on social media shows the aircraft ablaze in the moments before it crashed just south of the airport, creating a massive fireball. The plane had around 38,000 gallons of fuel on board, officials disclosed earlier this month.

The cargo plane was headed to Honolulu, according to officials. The last time a UPS plane crashed was in 2013, when a plane crash near Birmingham, Alabama, killed two pilots.