UPS, FedEx ground MD-11s after crash in Louisville
On Tuesday night, an MD-11 plane's engine detached from the wing upon takeoff from Muhammad Ali International Airport, killing the three crew members and 11 on the ground.
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A UPS MD-11 takes off from Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport in Kentucky on Nov. 6. This is the same model of plane that crashed after takeoff, killing 14. On Friday, UPS grounded the fleet of that model. (Photo Credit: John Sommers II/UPI | License Photo)
Nov. 8 (UPI) -- UPS and FedEx, the top two cargo airlines in the world, announced they grounded their MD-11 planes after a UPS jet crashed in Louisville, Ky.
On Tuesday night, an MD-11 plane's engine detached from the wing upon takeoff from Muhammad Ali International Airport, killing the three crew members and 11 on the ground.
The plane, which was bound for Honolulu, hit an industrial area near the airport and caused a fire.
Leirim Rodrigues was in the car with her husband when they witnessed a low-flying plane crash into a petroleum recycling facility and an auto parts store, resulting in a raging inferno seen from miles around.
The two carriers on Friday said they were grounding the fleet on a recommendation from the manufacturer. Boeing merged with McDonnell Douglas in 1997.
"With safety as our top priority, we recommended to the three operators of the MD-11 Freighter that they suspend flight operations while additional engineering analysis is performed," Boeing said in a statement. "This recommendation was made in an abundance of caution and we will continue coordinating with the FAA on this matter."
Boeing said it is assisting the National Transportation Safety Board in the investigation.
The MD-11 was retired from all passenger service worldwide in 2014.
There are around 70 MD-11cargo planes in use. UPS said that MD-11s are around 9% of its fleet of 26. FedEx has 28 MD-11s, about 4% of its fleet.
FedEx and UPS are phasing out use of the MD-11. Western Global has not indicated whether it would ground its fleet of MD-11s.
UPA and FedEx issued similar statements about the planes.
"Out of an abundance of caution and in the interest of safety, we have made the decision to temporarily ground our MD-11 fleet," UPS said in a statement.
"OUT of an abundance of caution we have made the decision to immediately ground our MD-11 fleet as we conduct a thorough safety review based on the recommendation of the manufacturer," Heather Wilson, a FedEx spokeswoman, told The New York Times.
In May 1979, the model's predecessor, DC-10, was grounded for 37 days by the federal government after an American Airlines DC-10 lost an engine departing from O'Hare International Airport.
Flight 191 crashed about 4,600 feet from the end of runway 32R. All 271 occupants on board were killed, along with two people on the ground.
A fractured bolt from the engine pylon's thrust link assembly was found on an adjacent runway.
An NTSB investigation determined the engine separation was attributed to damage to the pylon structure holding the engine to the wing, caused by improper maintenance.
The UPS plane was a 34-year-old plane, CNN reported. The MD-11 was delivered to Thai Airlines when it was put into service in 1991. It was sold to UPS and converted to a freighter in 2006.
On a typical day, more than 300 UPS flights depart from Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport with about 2 million packages.
FedEx has a hub in Memphis, Tenn., with 484,000 packages handled each day.
"Contingency plans are in place to flex our integrated air and ground network to help protect time-sensitive, critical shipments such as lifesaving pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and other products move through our network without disruption," FedEx said in the statement.
UPS also said it has contingency plans to handle shipments. The shipper also has ground service.
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