Absolutely devastating. There is a "shelter in place" within a 5-mile radius of the airport. I worry many on the ground may have been killed as well.

Engine blow or runway debris?

There’s a photo of it by itself. Horrible.

If I go anywhere, that's where I fly out of/to. It doesn't look like the airport itself sustained damage?

There's a ton of businesses in that area. The huge Ford plant is there on Fern Valley Road, as well as, the big GE plant.

that this plane didn't come down on a school, hospital or hotel or other high occupancy location such as the Ford Plant. The plane crashed in a light industrial and commercial area. So far at 10 PM, we have seven confirmed dead and 11 injured who were not on the plane, numbers likely to rise per Gov. Beshear.

On a personal level, the crash was less than 5-miles from an elementary school where my daughter teaches, highlighting how serious this could have been. In a double stroke of luck, she had to take a sick day today. I was also worried about my granddaughter who has allergies and a student at U of L, which was directly in the smoke plume path and only about 6 to 7 miles north of the crash. In another stroke of luck, she was working today well away from the high pollution area. Now, schools are closed tomorrow due to a shelter-in-place order for parts of Jefferson county.

UPS has grown to be a large part of the community here, over the years building their gigantic World Port Facility near the crash site. Most of us here have known a number of UPS employees through the years and this incident adds to their stress following the big layoff announcement.

Thoughts and meditations of peace go out to all affected.

KY.............

Catastrophic left engine failure spooling up to max takeoff power.

No automatic extinguisher action.

Uncontrolled fuel flow dropping fuel pressure to the other two engines.
(Should automatic extinguisher/fuel cutoff happen? Does that model have those features?)

Takeoff speed attained and rotation before pilots were aware of the situation.

Power drop on the two active engines due to fuel pressure dropping.

A full report will be appearing soon enough. Of course service records and previous problems with this plane will be looked at closely.

Doesn't soften the shock/horror of it all.
The human tragedy is horrifying. No matter the explanation.

Reminds me of the last flight of the Concorde on fire during takeoff.

Or sucked in enough hot flames and fuel mixture to surge and lose power, she won't take off on one engine and they must have been passed V1

There is no automatic extinguisher function, and automatic fuel flow cutoff only occurs in a few specific situations (most involve engine starts). There are actually some good reasons for this. An engine fire warning at or after you’re committed to takeoff is handled in the air, usually after reaching 1000’ above ground level, because the focus needs to be on flying the airplane without distraction, and because often times that engine is still producing some usable thrust for a short time. The idea is that the steps to contain a fire and isolate the engine should occur when the pilot directs, after the airplane is safely under control and away from the ground. An engine fire/separation causing a structure fire is so exceedingly rare that the odds are better just maintaining control of the airplane for the first few minutes. A transport category airplane with a failed engine is a real handful to fly. Even a brief lapse of attention can spell disaster.

There shouldn’t be any fuel pressure drop to the remaining engines. During takeoff on a 3 or 4 engine airplane, the fuel tanks are normally isolated, with each engine drawing from a different tank. Each tank has its own set of fuel pumps and each engine has its own engine driven fuel pump. Also, the fuel lines have one way check valves to prevent reverse flow.

You’re absolutely correct: nothing in the circumstances softens the horror. I can’t even imagine the suffering of the affected families.

Most aviation accidents result from a chain of events - anything from construction, maintenance, crew, etc. It will take a frustratingly long time for the NTSB to find all the answers.