Louisville, Kentucky– Frame by frame, six photos released by federal investigators Thursday released horrifying images of The ill-fated flight 2976 It turned into a deadly fireball along the runway at Kentucky Airport.
The terrifying sequence first shows an engine ejecting from a UPS cargo plane during takeoff. The engine explodes from the plane as the fire breaks out in the next image, followed by the blazing engine that ejects the stricken plane. The final images show the plane catching fire as it flies through the air, leaving trails of smoke behind it.
Moments later, the plane crashed in a massive explosion that killed 14 people — including three crew members — and caused devastation near the Louisville airport. Dramatic videos of the crash showed the plane igniting buildings and generating a huge column of smoke.
Images from airport surveillance video were included in a preliminary report issued by the National Transportation Safety Board on the November 4 disaster. The images were eerily reminiscent of dramatic images of the ill-fated Air France Concorde before it crashed shortly after take-off outside Paris in 2000.
As the investigation into the Kentucky crash continued, a preliminary report indicated evidence of cracks in the left wing engine mount. Other photos in the report show parts of the plane as investigators search for clues about the cause of the disaster.