UPS and FedEx said they are grounding McDonnell Douglas MD-11 aircraft “out of an abundance of caution” following a fatal crash at the UPS Global Aviation Hub in Kentucky.
Tuesday’s crash at UPS Worldport in Louisville killed 14 people, including three pilots on the MD-11, which was headed to Honolulu.
MD-11 aircraft account for approximately 9%. According to the companies, this represents 4% of UPS’s fleet and 4% of FedEx’s fleet.
“Following the recommendations of aircraft manufacturers, we proactively made this decision,” UPS said in a statement late Friday. “Nothing is more important to us than the safety of our employees and the communities we serve.”
FedEx said in an email that the aircraft will be grounded while it conducts a “thorough safety review based on the manufacturer’s recommendations.”
Boeing, which merged with McDonnell Douglas in 1997, said in a statement on its website that it has “recommended that three operators of the MD-11 freighter aircraft suspend operations pending additional technical analysis.”
Western Global Airlines is the only U.S. cargo airline operating the MD-11, according to aviation analysis firm Cirium. The company has 16 MD-11s in its fleet, 12 of which are already in storage. The company did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment early Saturday morning after business hours.
Boeing announced in 1998 that it would phase out production of the MD-11 jetliner, with final deliveries expected in 2000.
National Transportation Safety Board member Todd Inman said early Friday that the UPS cargo plane, built in 1991, was about to take off on Tuesday when a bell rang in the cockpit. For the next 25 seconds, the bell rang and the pilots tried to take control of the plane, but it barely lifted off the runway, its left wing bursting into flames, its engine lost, and it crashed to the ground in a spectacular fireball.
Inman said the cockpit voice recorder recorded the bell ringing about 37 seconds after the crew called for takeoff. He said there are different types of alarms with different meanings, and while investigators know the left wing was on fire and the engine on that side was dislodged, they still haven’t determined why the bell rang.
Inman said it will be several months before cockpit recordings are released as part of the investigation.
Former federal accident investigator Jeff Gazzetti said the bell may have been signaling an engine fire.
After Inman’s news conference, Guzzetti told The Associated Press that “this occurred at a point during takeoff when the plane was likely exceeding the speed at which it would have been possible to decide to abort the takeoff.” “They probably exceeded critical judgment speeds to stay on the runway and come to a safe stop. … There will need to be a thorough investigation of options that the crew may or may not have had.”
Dramatic video showed the plane crashing into the business, causing a fireball to explode. Footage from cellphones, cars and security cameras provided investigators with evidence of what happened from multiple angles.
Flight records show the UPS MD-11 that crashed was undergoing maintenance on the ground in San Antonio for more than a month, ending in mid-October. It is unclear what kind of work was done.
UPS’s package handling facility in Louisville is the company’s largest. The hub employs more than 20,000 people in the region, handles 300 flights each day and sorts more than 400,000 packages per hour.
UPS Worldport operations resumed Wednesday night with overnight flights, spokesman Jim Mayer said.
Mr. Golden and Mr. Schreiner contributed to The Associated Press, reporting from Seattle and Louisville, respectively.
