11.6: Recovery - Hour 2

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
As of six so five here at news Radio eight
forty whas the death toll from the ups plane crash
on Tuesday now sits at twelve at this time yesterday
seven now we are at twelve. Fifteen others are injured,
some fighting for their lives, and also sixteen people remain
unaccounted for. Yesterday a busy, busy day here in Louisville,

(00:21):
the NTSB arriving doing their formal process as far as
getting this started, and then also local leaders they were
able to go to the crash site and just get
a get a feel for the devastation. And I felt
it was a very real and genuine response from everyone
that spoke yesterday, from Mayor Greenberg to Governor Basheer, even

(00:44):
Morgan McGarvey that what they what they were able to
witness and see is something that just I can't put
in words what what that would have been like. So
we'll we'll keep you updated as best we can as
far as updates about those that we're adding to the
list and the number that is victims and just more information.

(01:06):
But as you could expect with these types of things,
you start to hear from folks in the community who
maybe we're able to survive this awful situation. Maybe that
are are are looking for loved ones that are unaccounted for.
And one of the stories yesterday that our partners over
at WKY covered is just it's unimaginable. So there is

(01:28):
a survivor essentially that has shared his story and he
lives just steps away from where the fiery crash took place,
and he's alive and it's pure luck in his mind.
So Robert Sanders, he lived and worked at Great A
Auto Parts for more than a decade, and his RV

(01:49):
was his home and it sat right on the property
there at great Auto Parts, and it's it's right in
the path of the ups plane. So he recalls hearing
a deep rumbling and stepping outside of the RV just
in time to see black smoke fireballs filling the sky,
and then minutes later, in fact, I'm sorry he stepped

(02:11):
outside of the business. But then uh, well, let me
let me back up a second here, just because because
I'll let you hear for yourself. But what this all
comes down to, and this is just scary to think about,
but just the randomness in life that could lead you
to either being a victim that lost your life or
being someone that is unharmed and and and okay, and

(02:33):
that's that's what happened here. So yeah, minutes before the crash,
he'd been sitting inside his RV, the same RV that
was obliterated by the impact, almost unrecognizable. So he's he's
shared that he's lost three of his close friends who
worked alongside him that didn't make it out those those
individuals have not been identified formally, but this is somebody saying, hey,

(02:57):
I was right there. Randomness essentially let to me surviving,
but there's three that did not make it. And he
gave detail about the noise, the heat, the smell that
he claims is replaying in his mind. So he's lost everything,
he owned everything. All he has is his truck, his vehicle,

(03:21):
and the clothes that were on his back. He lost
his everything, including three friends that he was really really
close with. So just unimaginable. If you want to go
to wk why they do have a link where you
can you can help make a donation to kind of
help this man. Rechtart life but really heavy to even

(03:45):
process any of that. And again he talked yesterday with
our partners at wokhy here's a little bit about what
he had to say somebody that I can tell you.
I would hope I would have the same level of
perspective if it was me in his shoes, But I
don't know if I would be I don't I mean,
I hope to never know how I would handle it,
but I don't know if I'd be able to handle
it the way he seems to be handling it.

Speaker 2 (04:09):
Hard to start hearing this real loud like rumbling, roaring sound.
And I stepped outside the bay door there and looked,
and the only thing I could see was black smoking flames, fireballs.

Speaker 3 (04:18):
Twelve years Robert Standers worked as a maintenance man at
Grade A Auto Parts and Recycling. He also lived in
his RV on site. On Tuesday, the place he called
home became part of ground zero of the ups plane crash.

Speaker 2 (04:32):
I had just been in my RV like two minutes earlier,
and I came down there to building.

Speaker 3 (04:37):
Twelve moments later the unthinkable, a plane filled with jet
fuel came crashing down, ripping straight through his RV.

Speaker 2 (04:44):
You think about that kind of thing a thousand times.
You know what would happen for plane crash, but you
don't think it had ever really happened, but then it happened.

Speaker 3 (04:50):
Now all that he has left are the clothes on
his back in his truck. But what haunts him the
most are the faces of the three friends he'll never
see again.

Speaker 2 (04:59):
Three friends, close friends that are gone.

Speaker 3 (05:02):
Visibly shaken, he says, the memories still play on loop.
The sound of the explosion, the smell of the smoke,
reminders of how fast life can change.

Speaker 2 (05:11):
You're just terrifying. I'd never been that scared. You know,
now you're still messing with me.

Speaker 1 (05:17):
It'll mess with him, maybe for the rest of his life.
He's fortunate to be alive. I think he knows that,
but just the balancing of wow, I'm so fortunate it
could have easily been me, and I'm physically okay, but
also realizing that three others, for randomness, no rhalm or reason,
they didn't make it, They're they're gone. It would mess

(05:40):
with you, for lack of a better way of describing
what type of just emotional trauma that you can that
you could experience from that survivor's guilt and just not
knowing why you why your life was was spared and
others weren't. I mean it's just a it's a devastating thing.
And that is something that really you could probably find

(06:01):
examples every day in life that that remind you of this.
But the randomness in life, no rhalm or reason, the
randomness of certain things can truly impact to you dying
at any moment or not. It's uh heavy stuff, no doubt.
But we'll continue to hear more about those that were
like Robert alive, fortunate for no specific reason. And we'll

(06:25):
also hear from those that that hear about those that didn't,
that didn't make it, and some that are still fighting
for their life. That's another story I want to touch
on a little bit later. One of the the serve,
one of these one of the injured that is still
in the hospital surviving fighting some severe burns, uh, in
critical condition. It's just it's it's his story. He seems
to be just the everyday young man from from Louisville,

(06:48):
has a family, children, and uh he's just going about
his day and he's one of those that was just
in the wrong place, wrong time, and I'm sure his family,
UH can't imagine what they're going through.

Speaker 4 (06:57):
All Right.

Speaker 1 (06:58):
We've got tracking of weather updates on the way. I
also want to talk on the other side before we
get to our sports update with Scott about the decision
a lot of local high schools have made to move
their football game the postseason games from Friday to tonight
because of whether I've got an opinion and a question
I suppose that I'd love to get an answer to.
All right, don't go anywhere, keep it locked right here
at news Radio eight forty whas So, we've got another

(07:22):
sports update coming your way here in just a few minutes.
And the last sports update we had was a rundown
of tonight's high school football action here in Louisville. A
lot of games that were not scheduled until the last
couple of days to take place tonight. They were scheduled
to take place tomorrow, which is typically when you play
high school football games. And to be clear, I don't
have any real issue. I'd be a liar if I

(07:43):
acted as if I have any care in the world
when they play high school football games that I have
no interest in. And it's not that I don't have
interest because I'm anti high school football. I just doesn't
impact me at all. But the forecast is the reason,
because there's some rain expected tomorrow and maybe it changes.
I'm far from a meteorologist. I will tell you what

(08:03):
I think can be strong about things I know. I'm
also willing to acknowledge I can't predict weather very well.

Speaker 3 (08:09):
But the rain.

Speaker 1 (08:13):
In the mix on the forecast days ahead requiring a
school to look into changing the day it's played. It's
not something I'm used to. But the first school I
saw doing it was KCD. They play Kaverna, and I
saw KCD as moving their game from Friday to Thursday
because of weather. And the only reason I saw this

(08:34):
on my radar is because there were people reacting to
it saying football is an outdoor sport. Since when do
we need to reschedule and adjust when these games are
played because it's raining. That's a fair question. Now, I've
also been told that there are other factors here. If
you do not have a turf field and you have grass,
your field could be ruined if they play football on

(08:56):
it in those conditions. I don't really know whose fault
that is other than these schools themselves, but I just
my initial reaction was, what if I'm Kaverna and yeah,
I'm likely not going to win. I have I think
I'm one and eight, they're eight and one, so maybe
it won't matter at all, but maybe the rain could

(09:17):
muddy it up, even the playing field a little bit
to where the conditions could help us. We could look
at that as a benefit, that mother nature might be
giving us a better chance. So I quickly learned, and
this makes total sense that that's not the case. Both
schools would have to agree if you're going to move
the date, so nobody's out here taking advantage of weather

(09:39):
that gives them the ability to decide to do whatever
gives them the best chance to win. But I football
is an outdoor sport. Ruining a field is a different conversation.
But I think I mean rain has been a fact.
I mean there's some seasons just all because of luck
and mother nature doing whatever she wants to do. You

(10:00):
could have five home games, three of them take place
when it's raining, because that's just not uncommon. So did
fields become much worse over time to where they now
no longer have the ability to get them prepared for
a game maybe the next week or the week after.
So both schools having to agree makes it to where
who could have issue with it if they both say

(10:20):
it's okay, and that's what they want to do, let
them do it. But also, is this now going to
be the norm moving forward that we just don't want
to play in rain, And look, I wouldn't want to
be out in rain either, But it's just been a
given that you take what you get. When it comes
to a sport that's played outdoors, you don't play whenever
it's becoming a danger and a risk when it comes
to lightning things like that.

Speaker 5 (10:39):
Well, and that's part of the lore of football, that's
part of the romanticism of the game. Now, granted, if
we have heavy thunderstorms and lightning, that's the different thing
is the lightning, Right, if you've got a risk of lightning,
you'll be there all night wait until lightning delays are over,
because you have to wait thirty minutes. So I see
your point.

Speaker 1 (10:55):
A scenario scenario that this is just a hypothetical that
I'm going to throw at you.

Speaker 4 (10:58):
Guys.

Speaker 1 (10:59):
Let's say KCD and I don't think they have a
turf field. I could be wrong, but let's just say
they didn't want to have their field ruined and that
was the only reason. And Kiverna said, no, we like
the rain we get we have a better chance. At
that point, what do you do? I mean, I feel
like if, if, if, if, especially with being a private school,
well then you then you can go play at their place.

Speaker 5 (11:21):
That's exactly right. I mean, it's exactly if.

Speaker 1 (11:23):
You if you don't want to play because your field
isn't isn't up to up up to the standard of
being able to handle a game played in those conditions,
here's your solution. You just move the game to to
to Kiverna and realistically speaking, it probably wouldn't impact the
outcome of said game. But I don't, again, to be
fair that or to be clear, that's a hypothetical. I'm
not saying that it's the situation here. But if you
go back and look, and Jason Fraksie does a great

(11:45):
job of covering high school sports for the CJ, this
this is this is unheard of to have this many
games moved up, and it's mostly just because of weather
and the potential concern for fields being damaged. So anyhow,
let's get to updatea trappick in weather. Another sports update
on the way right here at news Radio whas it
is six thirty five here at news Radio eight forty whas,

(12:06):
and we are now joined by Fred Tichi, who is
a former prosecutor, an attorney and a lifelong pilot. Obviously,
the big coverage here, big story locally is the plane
crash that took place at UPS on Tuesday. And as
a as a pilot yourself, when you hear of the
engine separating during takeoff, I mean, give us your thoughts

(12:29):
as far as just the likelihood of of of of
anything else playing out the way that it did. Whenever
we now know that the engine separated.

Speaker 4 (12:37):
Yeah, good morning, thank you so much, so much for
having me this horrible, horrible tragedy and it's just so sad.
And so to answer your question, it's not just that
the engine separated, it's what happened. So I actually caused
the engine separation and what happened when when the engine separated,

(12:59):
and all of that will be determined by the National
Certification State people were the NTSB and anybody who tells
you that they know what happened to this airplane, maybe
they're right, maybe they're not. I mean, at this point
it's all kind of speculation, but there's there's not the
sound very kind of matter of fact about it. But
there's a lot of evidence that needs to be sifted
through and a lot of things that need to be

(13:19):
looked at. And so the question is, you know what happened?
I mean, engines are separated from airplanes. It generally happens
are commercial airliners, and it's not unheard of. It happens,
but oftentimes most of the time it happens at the
altitude when they're way up there and the airplane it's
just kind of limp home and nobody ever really talks
about it. Essentially, to have separated right at what they

(13:41):
call rotation, is the airplane went down the runway, that
kind of the nose comes up in the airplane starts
to fly. That's that's you know, we saw something very
similar to that decades ago in Chicago at DC ten.
But heaven knows, I mean, you know, why did it
come off and what did it do when it came off?
Did it strike the tail, strike the wing, did it

(14:02):
take t hydraulics with it? Who knows? I mean, who
knows did it when it came off? Did it come
off because it exploded because something went in it. Did
that explosion cause what they call BOT or foreign object
damage to the other engine to the right engine that
you said the pilot had really had nothing. I mean,
it's just there's a million questions that need to be answered.

Speaker 5 (14:24):
Hey, good morning to your Fred. Full disclosure. Fred and
I need to go way back to our early days,
and Fred was one of the first people I reached
out to. As Nick said, he's a former federal prosecutor
also an avid pilot. Fred and I have followed each
other on social media for quite a bit, so it's
good to have you with us.

Speaker 4 (14:39):
Fred.

Speaker 5 (14:39):
Good morning to you, brother.

Speaker 4 (14:40):
Hey, good morning, brother. How are you this morning?

Speaker 3 (14:43):
I'm good boy.

Speaker 5 (14:44):
I'm the same here, buddy, same here. Hey, listen, I
wanted to ask you. A lot has been made recently
in the last couple of days now about the heavy
maintenance schedule, which doesn't sound unusual on the surface, but
given you're the pilot and you're closer to this, this
extended maintenance schedule, calling it air quotes heavy, is that
a normal timeline for an aircraft to be out of
commission or is that something the NTSB is gonna look

(15:04):
hard at.

Speaker 4 (15:06):
Well, they're gonna look harder at a bunch of things.
Scott's interestingly, ups has just a stellar stellar reputation for maintenance,
and maintenance isn't just turning a wrench, okay, it's an attitude,
it's an approach to safety. It's a recognition that if
you don't do stuff right, bad things happen. And that
is pervasive at ups and there's a ton of people

(15:27):
who worked there, and so you know, but we're human beings,
and so who knows what happened? The answer your question,
the term heavy maintenance is actually a term. It's used
in the industry. It's used with these types of aircraft.
I mean, like my airplane has that Jens is the
term propellers, and they have different things that have to
get done over time. But this this engine had been

(15:48):
the subject of maintenance literally two hours before the accident,
as I understand it. So that's something they're gonna look
at and what happened. And you know, it's not like
it's not like when you go to the Jiffy, right,
you pull in, it looks at the thing they thumped
the Ohiel in your car and they puts your back
out the other door. Right, someone looks at it. People
who are highly trained, highly skilled, you know, it's it's

(16:12):
one of the things that we live by in my
aviation career is that it always takes longer to clean
up the mess, and people know that. And so even
if they had to delay this flight for me and
someone would have done it, someone along the line would
have the authority to do that. And so the term
heavy maintenance usually refers to from these big airplanes what

(16:33):
they call there's a heavy sea and letter sea and
so those types of things. This airplane is not. It
may have been heavy maintenance in the sense that you
know they're doing big things, but usually a heavy maintenance
check is something that happens over a course for a
long time.

Speaker 1 (16:48):
So when you hear heavy maintenance being taking place with
with an aircraft that we now know that. Of course
we now know what happened after the fact. But how
common is it for a plane to take off after
going through some maintenance. I would imagine it's I mean, again,
there's layers to looking into every little thing before you
take off, but they still, I'm sure, do that every day,

(17:08):
despite double triple checking things. It's just you never know.

Speaker 4 (17:12):
They do it every day. I guarantee you all of
us have been on an airplane and sat there and
watched the guy in the neon vest come in and
talk to the captain because they're doing maintenance on the
airplane before it pushes back from the gate. And ultimately
it's the decision about whether the airplane's safe to fly
is one that's made between the captain and the and

(17:33):
the maintenance crew. And so that, you know, I'm sure
that somebody. Look, no one would have released this airplane.
I mean, this sounds almost silly to say, but no
one would have released this airplane with a known defect
whenever happened. So, you know, we know that the left engine,
so that's what the ntsp's going to be looking at.
We know that the left engine came off the aircraft.

(17:54):
Engines aren't supposd to come off airplanes. We know that
that engine was the subject of maintenance prior to the accident,
and so that's the first place the NTSP is going
to look. And ultimately that may end up being they
may end up finding something, or they may end up
finding that it was absolutely coincidental that that engine was
being worked on at the time and whatever it was

(18:16):
that they were working on, I mean, you know, if
they were working on what they're called the packs, the
air conditioners and then the engine fell off. The fact
that was being worked on beforehand was not a contributing
factor to the accident, you know.

Speaker 5 (18:29):
Fred a lot was said that the flight was two
hours and a few minutes late taking off from Louisville.
Not really again without speculating, but not really an item
of concern because that sounds like that may happen from
time to time with ups, especially if you're loading these
aircraft like this, But two hours does seem a bit excessive.

Speaker 4 (18:47):
It does, But think about it. Okay, the box gets
there day late. I mean, people are gonna belly ache. Right,
There's people whose boxes were in the back of the right, right.
I mean that's it gets back to what I was saying.
It always takes longer to clean up the mat. So
I mean, yeah, the airplane is delayed. Sure there's pressure,
but that's true with every airline. I mean again, how

(19:08):
many unless passing your airline, how many of us have
been a situation where we're just like, it's canceled, we
don't go. People are convenienced to yell and screaming at
the gate agent. We get it, everybody gets it. But ultimately,
the ultimate objective for all the stuff is safety. You know,
obviously on time arrival, on time delivery, but with safety,

(19:29):
because when you don't adhere to safety, then the rest
doesn't matter.

Speaker 1 (19:34):
M Yeah, makes sense, It makes total sense. Fred. We
appreciate you your time and your insight, and again maybe
we'll do it again sometime again. Appreciate it.

Speaker 4 (19:43):
Hey, guys, thanks for having me. Thank the rest of
the day off.

Speaker 5 (19:46):
Thanks Fred. Good to hear you again.

Speaker 4 (19:47):
Buddy.

Speaker 1 (19:47):
That's Fred Teache again, former federal prosecutor. It't Harney in
a lifelong pilot, somebody who has some insight into aviation,
much more than myself. And one thing that I really
took from that is is that the process, you know,
the the routine that takes place every day really around

(20:07):
the world, as far as just planes being given the
green light to take off, you know, that whole process
could have been exactly the same, and in this time around,
it's just obviously a devastating and tragic thing happened. So
again that the timeline for the overallt NTSB investigation to
be concluded completely closed up, that is, that is far

(20:28):
away from right now, but we'll learn throughout here and there.
As far as just things that they're that they're observing,
and that'll that'll tell the story as far as what
gives us potentially any real I guess proof of what
caused this. We may never know exactly.

Speaker 5 (20:44):
No, I think you're right, Nick. And one of the
things I asked Fred yesterday when I was talking to
him a little bit, was, of course, these aircraft are
built to fly on one engine and one engine only.
But as Fred made the point there, once the left
engine became dislodged, parts were flying all over the place
and got in the other engines, and I think the
tail engine went out as well, and then at that
point there was just there was no hope. And that's

(21:05):
what we've seen on the videos from here. But you know, tragic,
all right now. The one thing that I always say
after these air disasters, that if there is a silver lining,
is that we've learned from so many of these in
the past, whether it be the Air Florida crash back
in the early eighties, the DC ten crash of the
United in Sioux City, Iowa. We learned a lot about

(21:25):
the DC ten there, Captain Sully Selenburger with bird strikes.
You know, we learned a lot from these so hopefully
we're going to learn a lot, and not just from
a cargo standpoint, but we still have MD eleven's out there.
They're aging, they're going to moot them off, but we're
going to learn a lot from this too as well.
And maintenance. I mean, the MD eleven isn't the only
aircraft that they're putting an engine back on a wing with.

(21:47):
This happens all the time, and aviation mechanics know that.
So maybe we'll learn what happened here and be able
to correct it so this doesn't happen again.

Speaker 1 (21:55):
Yes, sir, all right, let's get to a kick update
of traffic and weather. We've also got a sports update
coming your way here before two too long stick around
at his news radio eight forty wh as