The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday
Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US
Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US
Before a UPS cargo plane caught fire and crashed this week, a cockpit voice recorder captured a repeating bell that sounded in the cockpit for 25 seconds as pilots tried to gain control, a National Transportation Safety Board member said Friday.
NTSB member Todd Inman said the persistent bell began about 37 seconds after the crew called for takeoff thrust and continued until the recording ended, which investigators believe was the final point of impact.
There could be different types of alarms with varying meanings, but investigators know there was a fire in the plane’s left wing and will use flight data to help determine a clearer picture of what happened, officials said.
The crash Tuesday at UPS Worldport, the company’s global aviation hub in Louisville, killed 13 people, including the three pilots on board.
Louisville UPS Plane Crash
The NTSB is leading the investigation. Inman said it would be months before the transcript of the cockpit recording is made public as part of that investigation process.
Jeff Guzzetti, a former federal crash investigator, told the Associated Press, the bell was likely signaling the engine fire.
“It occurred at a point in the takeoff where they were likely past their decision speed to abort the takeoff,” Guzzetti told The Associated Press after Inman’s news conference Friday.
“They were likely past their critical decision speed to remain on the runway and stop safely. … They’ll need to thoroughly investigate the options the crew may or may not have had.”
The plane that crashed was carrying 38,000 gallons of fuel and hit two buildings, including the UPS facility where Fedon had worked, as well as a petroleum recycling facility, causing some containers filled with oil to explode at the site.
Louisnes Fedon, and his 3-year-old granddaughter, Kimberly Asa, were gathering metal at a scrapyard near Muhammad Ali International Airport when the MD-11 freighter slammed into the ground shortly after takeoff and exploded.
In addition to Fedon, a small handful of other victims have been named in the days since the crash.
