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No fewer than nine people lost their lives and 11 left injured after a freight aircraft crashed during departure from an international airport in Kentucky's largest city on Tuesday evening.

Aviation experts suggest the plane crashed after a single engine malfunctioned and another appeared to be damaged while lifting off.

The exact cause remains unknown what caused the plane to crash, prompting a huge explosion to ignite after it failed to take-off from the airstrip. Footage showed fire had already engulfed one wing of the plane during its takeoff attempt, which may have spread through the plane and caused the explosion, or the jet could have caught fire upon hitting ground-based obstacles.

What is apparent is that the 144,000 litres of jet fuel on board the MD-11 jet needed for the flight probably intensified the fire, which rapidly extended to several buildings past the airstrip and burned for hours.

How did it start?

The shipping giant operates from the Louisville air hub as a distribution hub for its global operations and its designated flight was at the start of a 6,920 kilometer trip to Hawaii's capital when the cargo plane attempted to take off.

Tracking information from flight monitoring services shows the plane started moving along the 17R runway at around 5:15 PM local and attained a maximum velocity of 344km/h.

But verified footage shows that by the time the plane reached this speed a fire had completely engulfed its port side and the aircraft failed to gain altitude before the enormous detonation.

Officials issued a local safety directive to area inhabitants and scrambled numerous fire crews to the location.

The state's governor verified details seen in CCTV footage that shows the plane traveling just metres off the ground before a bright flash consumed the aircraft. It is then seen slamming into the terrain as a huge fireball erupts around it about a minute after departure.

Authenticated footage recorded by drivers on adjacent roads showed the fire rising into the air while later videos revealed smoke pouring from the area.

Aerial images broadcast by local media showed debris showering the runway and falling onto the tops of at least two local businesses.

Potential causes of the accident

ATC transmissions reviewed are largely garbled and filled with static so no clear dialogue can be heard about the incident as it developed.

However, experts proposed that a catastrophic malfunction of two of the engines may have been the cause of the tragedy.

The trijet cargo aircraft uses three powerplants. Two are installed under the wings, and a third is built into the tail at the bottom of the tail fin.

Footage confirmed showed a fire consuming the port wing of the plane, which then tilted to the left as it tried to achieve altitude and become airborne.

Two experts independently suggested the left engine may have detached from the plane after suffering from a technical or physical breakdown.

Separate images captured post-accident displayed a burned powerplant sitting on the turf next to the runway.

A retired airline pilot and aircraft safety specialist commented that it was "extremely rare" for an engine to detach during operation.

He referenced the 1979 American Airlines Flight 191 disaster, in which 273 people were fatally injured after the aircraft's powerplant separated as it took off from O'Hare International Airport. Parts of the engine had been compromised when it was replaced on the plane, but the expert said it was premature to determine whether a comparable issue caused the powerplant separation on the trijet.

The expert said the cargo plane would have been able to fly with just two engines but the destruction resulting from the wing blaze was likely so great it caused the aircraft's remaining engine to fail to produce power.

"With such a catastrophic event we cannot know what other damage was done when the powerplant separated," the expert commented.

A different aircraft specialist observed the footage appeared to show the third engine had been damaged because it expelled a burst of smoke. The issue could have occurred while it was struck by wreckage from the blaze and the powerplant separation.

"The upper engine that released smoke appears to wind down right after," the expert stated. "This left just the right engine producing thrust, creating a severe power imbalance and leaving the aircraft unable to gain height.

"Losing two engines while departing results in only a fraction of its thrust and minimal opportunity of staying airborne, particularly under maximum take-off weight," the specialist added.

Reasons for extensive destruction

Post-accident videos showed a scene of complete chaos with multiple fires burning across a extensive area of the location and smoke billowing into the sky.

The aircraft, which was three decades old and had been operated for passenger travel before conversion, had previously made one round trip from Louisville to the East Coast on Tuesday.

It has not been confirmed which goods was aboard the Hawaii-bound aircraft, though authorities said the plane was not carrying anything that would create a heightened risk of contamination.

"This involved extended freight transport from Louisville to Honolulu, so the trijet was carrying a significant fuel quantity," an expert said. "That heavy fuel load not only reduced performance but also explains the large fireball observed post-accident."

Officials told reporters that the plane was carrying 144,000 litres of fuel for the extended trip when it crashed. The fire was probably intensified on the ground because the aircraft slammed into a fuel recycling business adjacent to the airfield.

The expert indicated authorities will concentrate on how the initial fire began, and "whether debris struck the centre engine, and whether earlier maintenance on the left engine were a factor." The expert continued: "Atmospheric conditions were favorable, so environmental factors are improbable."

The National Transportation Safety Board has sent a team to the location and will now lead the probe into the accident's origins, though this can take up to two years to finalize.