Dramatic videos show the UPS plane ablaze and crash in a massive fireball

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Videos from phones, cars and security cameras captured the tragic final moments of a UPS cargo plane as it caught fire and crashed in a massive explosion just outside Louisville’s airport, killing at least 12 people and carving a path of destruction on the ground.

The videos provide investigators and the public with many different angles of the plane going down Tuesday in an area dotted with scrap yards and UPS facilities. No one expects to find survivors.

The plane had been cleared for takeoff from UPS Worldport, the company’s global aviation hub, when a large fire developed in the left wing and an engine fell off, said Todd Inman, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board, which is leading the investigation.

One video of the crash taken by a vehicle’s dashcam shows flames and smoke trailing from the wing as the jet barely clears a road, clips a building and vanishes behind an eruption of black smoke.

Another video from a business security camera captures the deafening sound of the plane’s impact and a wall of fire and black smoke. As the flames grow, a smaller blast ripples through the wreckage as sirens begin to echo in the distance.

The blaze stretched nearly a city block and destroyed much of the plane’s fuselage, fire officials have said.

In yet another recording, the UPS plane can be seen lifting off the runway already on fire, then disappearing seconds later in an orange fireball.

From a nearby street, a driver filmed the explosion and thick black smoke above nearby buildings. The smoke fills the sky as the vehicle backs away. Other videos from the street show a pillar of black smoke towering over buildings and traffic in the area as sirens echo and lights from emergency vehicles flash.

The recordings of the crash have deepened the shock and grief among other UPS pilots, said Independent Pilots Association President Robert Travis. The union represents 3,500 pilots who fly for UPS.

“We’re just all heartbroken,” he said. “This is a tragedy that is even highlighted further by the video that’s out there circulating around the world due to the catastrophic, violent nature of the accident itself.”