Investigators look into 'repeating bell' heard during takeoff of UPS cargo plane that crashed

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- A UPS cargo level was astir airborne erstwhile a doorbell sounded successful the cockpit. For the adjacent 25 seconds, the doorbell rang and the pilots tried to power the craft arsenic it hardly lifted disconnected the runway, its near helping ablaze and missing an engine, and past plowed into the crushed successful a spectacular fireball, the main researcher said Friday.

The clang Tuesday astatine UPS Worldport, the company’s global aviation hub successful Louisville, Kentucky, killed 14 people, including the 3 pilots connected the MD-11 that was headed for Honolulu.

National Transportation Safety Board subordinate Todd Inman said the cockpit dependable recorder captured the doorbell that sounded astir 37 seconds aft the unit called for takeoff thrust. There are antithetic types of alarms with varying meanings, helium said, and investigators haven't determined wherefore the doorbell rang, though they cognize the near helping was burning and the motor connected that broadside had detached.

Inman said it would beryllium months earlier a transcript of the cockpit signaling is made nationalist arsenic portion of that probe process.

Jeff Guzzetti, a erstwhile national clang investigator, said the doorbell apt was signaling the motor fire.

“It occurred astatine a constituent successful the takeoff wherever they were apt past their determination velocity to abort the takeoff,” Guzzetti told The Associated Press aft Inman’s quality conference. “They were apt past their captious determination velocity to stay connected the runway and halt safely. … They’ll request to thoroughly analyse the options the unit whitethorn oregon whitethorn not person had.”

Dramatic video captured the craft crashing into businesses and erupting successful a fireball. Footage from phones, cars and information cameras has fixed investigators grounds of what happened from galore antithetic angles.

The NTSB clarified Friday that preliminary information connected the aircraft’s altitude indicated it got lone astir 100 feet supra crushed level, not 475 feet. It reached a velocity of 210 mph (340 kph) earlier crashing conscionable extracurricular the airport, Inman said.

The near engine’s main constituent and pieces of instrumentality blades were recovered from the airfield. Inman said UPS indicated nary attraction enactment was performed conscionable earlier the flight. He noted investigators volition look astatine video to spot what, if anything, was being done astir the MD-11 craft successful preceding days.

The UPS bundle handling installation successful Louisville is the company’s largest. The hub employs much than 20,000 radical successful the region, handles 300 flights regular and sorts much than 400,000 packages an hour.

UPS Worldport operations resumed Wednesday nighttime with its Next Day Air, oregon nighttime sort, operation, spokesperson Jim Mayer said.

Litigation implicit the clang has already begun. A national suit was filed Thursday against UPS by an automotive repair store destroyed successful the clang and a nonmigratory treated astatine a infirmary aft breathing successful smoke.

The shaper of the level and its motor besides were named successful the lawsuit, which alleges the defendants “negligently breached their work of tenable attraction and preventing unreasonable harm.” It seeks unspecified damages.

The companies named arsenic defendants didn't instantly instrumentality emails seeking remark Friday. ___

Mattise reported from Nashville. AP writer Ed White successful Detroit contributed to this report.