First Officer **Lee Truitt**, the quiet, grounded pilot from Albuquerque who built his aviation career flying short-hop routes across New Mexico, died alongside his two colleagues when their **UPS cargo jet** crashed seconds after takeoff—an aviation disaster that also killed **twelve people on the ground**, including a young child engulfed in the fireball that followed. Truitt, known among friends for his humility and among coworkers for his calm, meticulous approach to every checklist, had recently achieved his long-held dream of joining UPS’s long-haul fleet.
That dream ended abruptly on Tuesday evening.The aircraft, a **McDonnell Douglas MD-11** operating as **Flight 2976**, departed **Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport** for a scheduled freight run. In the cockpit were three experienced aviators: **Captain Richard Wartenberg**, an accomplished pilot with decades in commercial aviation;
First Officer Truitt**, serving as the monitoring pilot; and **International Relief Captain Dana Diamond**, onboard for the long-haul rotation. Together, they formed a seasoned, well-synchronized crew.But only moments into the initial climb, witnesses reported seeing the jet pitch abruptly, banking in a way that suggested a catastrophic loss of control.
Radar data showed the aircraft struggling to maintain altitude before plunging nose-first into a nearby neighborhood. The impact unleashed an explosion so violent that it killed **nine residents** instantly, in addition to the three pilots. Homes ignited, vehicles melted, and debris scattered across multiple blocks, trapping some victims before firefighters could reach them.
The **NTSB**, airline investigators, and UPS safety teams have now converged on Louisville to determine what caused the fatal descent—whether mechanical failure, weight imbalance, or a sudden aerodynamic issue unique to the MD-11. As investigators sift through wreckage and flight data, families of the victims mourn a tragedy that took thirteen lives from the sky and twelve more from the ground, leaving two communities—Albuquerque and Louisville—united in grief and disbelief.
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