In a significant move for aviation safety, shipping giants UPS and FedEx have announced the temporary grounding of their McDonnell Douglas MD-11 cargo planes. This decision comes "out of an abundance of caution" following a catastrophic crash at the UPS Worldport hub in Louisville, Kentucky, that claimed the lives of 14 people.
The Decision to Ground the Fleet
The companies made the announcement late Friday, stating the grounding was a direct response to the manufacturer's recommendation. A UPS statement emphasized that "Nothing is more important to us than the safety of our employees and the communities we serve." FedEx echoed this sentiment, confirming it would conduct a "thorough safety review" while its MD-11s are out of service.
This decision impacts a notable portion of each company's air fleet. The MD-11 aircraft constitute approximately 9% of the UPS airline fleet and 4% of the FedEx fleet. Boeing, which merged with McDonnell Douglas in 1997, has not yet publicly disclosed the specific reasoning behind its safety recommendation.
Details of the Tragic Louisville Crash
The incident that prompted this action occurred on Tuesday at the UPS Worldport facility in Louisville. An MD-11 cargo plane destined for Honolulu crashed shortly after takeoff, resulting in a devastating fireball. All three pilots on board were among the 14 fatalities.
National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) member Todd Inman provided chilling details on Friday. He revealed that the cockpit voice recorder captured a bell sounding approximately 37 seconds after the crew called for takeoff thrust. For the next 25 seconds, the pilots struggled to control the aircraft as it barely became airborne.
Tragically, the plane was already in a critical state. Its left wing was on fire and the engine on that side had detached. Investigators are still working to determine the exact reason for the alarm, though former federal crash investigator Jeff Guzzetti suggested it was likely signaling an engine fire. He noted the crew was likely past the decision speed to safely abort the takeoff, leaving them with limited options.
Investigation and Operational Impact
The investigation is leveraging multiple sources of evidence, including dramatic video footage from phones, cars, and security cameras that captured the crash from various angles. However, it will be months before a transcript of the cockpit recording is made public as part of the standard investigative process.
Flight records indicate the specific aircraft involved, built in 1991, had undergone maintenance in San Antonio for over a month until mid-October. The nature of that work is currently unclear and will be a point of scrutiny for investigators.
Despite the tragedy, operations at the massive UPS Worldport hub, which employs over 20,000 people in the region, resumed Wednesday night. The facility handles 300 flights daily and sorts more than 400,000 packages per hour, with the night sort operation for Next Day Air service now back online.
