A critical mount that kept the left engine attached to the UPS flight that crashed in Louisville earlier this month failed only moments after the doomed flight broke ground, according to a new report from the National Transportation Safety Board
The report includes stunning frame-by-frame photos of the left engine of three-engined McDonnell Douglas MD-11F separating from the plane and going up and over the wing and igniting a fireball seen in a sequence of six extraordinary new images obtained by investigators.
The three pilots of UPS flight 2976 and 11 people on the ground were killed when the beleaguered jet sliced a half-mile long debris field across a petroleum recycling facility and UPS warehouse, setting off a massive blaze of fire and black smoke visible for miles.
The report highlights fatigue cracks found in the hardware attaching the engine to the wing and symptoms of over-stressing, but more is still to come as the agency conducts its full investigation.
The UPS freighter was a 34-year-old jet and had been in the process of being phased out by the cargo carrier.
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