An ordinary Tuesday evening in Louisville, Kentucky, turned into chaos when a UPS cargo plane plunged from the sky and exploded into flames shortly after takeoff.
“You’d think the world was ending,” city residents said as they heard explosions and saw clouds of black smoke rising into the sky.
Harrowing videos of the crash have been circulating online, leaving viewers heartbroken for the victims.
A UPS cargo plane plunged from the sky and exploded into flames shortly after takeoff in Louisville
Image credits: WUSA9
At least seven people, including all three crew members aboard the UPS wide-body cargo plane, lost their lives in the fiery crash.
Another 11 on the ground were injured.
Officials said the UPS cargo plane had departed from the Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport (SDF) and began its journey to Honolulu at around on Tuesday, November 4.
Image credits: Stephen Cohen/Getty Images
Shortly after takeoff, the plane crashed onto the roof of the Kentucky Petroleum Recycling building at around 5:14 p.m. ET.
Massive explosions took place as the aircraft, which was loaded with over 200,000 pounds of fuel, slammed into a number of businesses on the ground.
The trail of destruction and plumes of thick black smoke were seen for miles.
“You’d think the world was ending,” a nursing student said as she saw a “big cloud of dust” during sundown
Image credits: ShelbyWx_
Residents of Louisville are used to seeing UPS planes fly over their rooftops. But the sight of the aircraft falling from the sky and causing a massive explosion left them terrified.
SJ Matthews thought for a moment that the “world was ending” when he “saw a big cloud of dust” at around 5:15 p.m.
Image credits: anthonycerullo
The nursing student from University of Louisville had just bought himself dinner at a restaurant and was walking out with his meal when he laid eyes on the smoke.
“I was just shocked, and then I find out a plane crashed and blew up, then my heart ached for the people in the plane,” he told the Louisville Courier Journal.
Louisville, KY plane crash was an outbound UPS flight to Honolulu. Looks like the left wing/engine was on fire during the takeoff roll. pic.twitter.com/DimVcO0Qv5
— Anthony Cerullo (@anthonycerullo) November 4, 2025
Damon Fortner, a long-haul UPS truck driver, witnessed the plane fly over a nearby road before exploding 100 yards away from his pickup truck.
He was on his way to the airport to pick up a load of packages when he speechlessly watched the plane take down telephone poles and power lines.
A long-haul UPS truck driver was on his way to pick up a load of packages when he saw the plane take down telephone poles and power lines
Image credits: CBS News
“It blew up. And it just kept on. All you could hear was stuff blowing up, and black smoke everywhere,” he recalled. “You could feel the heat off it.”
“It tears me up,” he said at the thought of the victims on the plane.
Image credits: Stephen Cohen/Getty Images
Residents reported finding debris possibly from the crashed plane.
Some said they found Hawaiian-style dresses that presumably fell out of the plane near the crash site.
While speaking to a local news outlet, Justin Dunn held up a piece of paper with burned edges, which he believed was from the plane crash.
Loudly heard the explosion, and the several booms afterwards and the smoke plume from the explosion all the way here in Mt Washington. Please keep those affected in your thoughts and prayers. Such a tragedy! #UPSPlaneCrash #UPS2976 pic.twitter.com/r6N2d71M4G
— shelbyy 🤎 (@ShelbyWx_) November 5, 2025
“It fell out of the sky when I was working on the car and that’s when we found out about the crash,” Justin Dunn told WAVE.
“And then my son was like, ‘Hey, look in the sky,’ and it was coming down out of the sky when he picked it up,” he continued.
The cause of the crash is yet to be determined, but some reports claimed the plane faced an engine issue
Image credits: anthonycerullo
The cause of the crash is yet to be determined; however, some reports revealed that the plane’s engine might have experienced an issue during takeoff.
The plane was a triple-engine aircraft, and one of the engine seemed to have separated before the crash.
Investigators are reportedly looking into why the plane didn’t fly on two engines after one engine failed.
The plane was 34 years old, as per FAA records.
Image credits: tparon
“It’s too big a fire for a normal, typical-engine fire. It’s much too big,” U.S. air safety expert and pilot John Cox told Reuters.
“That airplane should have flown on two engines,” he added. “So now we’ve got to look at what caused it not to fly.”
All flight activity was suspended at SDF following the crash, and a shelter-in-place order was issued for all locations within five miles of the airport.
An expert said the plane should have flown on two engines even if one engine failed
Image credits: KFDM YouTube
Resident Elizabeth Owens said she and her husband, along with their son, 11, spent Tuesday evening sheltering in place.
“We have planes going over our house from UPS all the time,” but seeing “how close” the crash was has been “kind of scary,” she said.
“It kind of brings those fears to mind that I didn’t really have before, because I’ve never been this close to something so serious that’s happened,” she added.