Black boxes from the UPS cargo plane that crashed shortly after takeoff in Louisville have been recovered, federal investigators said on Wednesday.
The plane crashed on Tuesday, shortly after taking off from Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport. At least nine people were killed.
NTSB Member J. Todd Inman said that video reviewed by investigators shows a large fire on the left side of the aircraft and the plane’s left engine detaching from the wing.
He added that the plane still managed to gain enough altitude to clear a fence at the end of the runway before crashing into two businesses just beyond airport property. The crash sparked a fire that stretched roughly half a mile.
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"We need to not only take drone coverage and video coverage of where every piece of this evidence is, but then we need to recover it and tag it, and those will give us even more pieces of information," Inman said.
The plane was bound for Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu, meaning it was carrying a large amount of fuel, contributing to the intensity of the fire.
The NTSB is asking anyone who finds debris from the aircraft to contact investigators at witness@ntsb.gov.
While the exact circumstances of the crash are still under investigation, UPS has said the flight was not delayed and no maintenance was done prior to takeoff
