121pilot, our resident commercial pilot on Live And Let’s Fly, offers his thoughts on the recent crash of UPS Airlines Flight 2976, an MD-11 freighter that tragically crashed shortly after takeoff on November 4, 2026, in Louisville, Kentucky.
The community of Professional Pilots is a small one. Exact numbers are hard to come by but ALPA claimed at the end of 2022 that there were 76,545 Pilots employed by Part 121 carriers in the US. So, when an accident like UPS 2976 happens, it hits all of us. It’s our life and it’s what we do day in and day out.
It’s worth noting that this was a highly experienced crew. Captain Richard Wartenberg had 8,613 hours including 4,918 on the MD-11. The First Officer Lee Truitt who was the pilot flying had 9,200 hours of which 994 were on the MD-11. The ringer on the flight deck though, was Captain Dana Diamond. Capt. Diamond was number 5 on the UPS seniority list and the most experienced MD-11 pilot at the company with 15,520 hours of total flight time and 8,775 on the MD-11. That high level of experience in the cockpit was evident in their performance.
A great solo travel tip spotted this week on Live and Let's Fly.
