UPS Flight 2976, MD-11 Crash, Louisville, Kentucky, 4th November 2025.
The aircraft in question was a 34 year old McDonnel Douglass MD11, a three engine cargo aircraft, bound for Hawaii. Shortly after leaving the runway, the left (Number 1) engine separated from the wing creating a huge fire, which also affected the function of the second engine, mounted in the tail of the aircraft.
The crew were unable to climb or control the aircraft and it rolled to the left, with the wing hitting industrial buildings close to the airport perimeter. The resultant impact and huge fireball was not survivable and the event killed a number of people on the ground as well as the three UPS crew.
Some discussion followed about possible cause, as a similar event had occurred in Chicago, when a a DC10 lost the left engine on take-off. The MD-11 is a derivative of the DC10 and so concerns were raised that there could be a repeat of the earlier crash, which was caused by incorrect maintenance procedures, however this now seems to be a different failure, given the engineering records related to this aircraft.
Underwing engines are mounted on a structure that is itself fixed to the wing of the aircraft. This is known as a pylon. In the DC10 crash the engine fell off the pylon. In the Kentucky case, it has now emerged that the pylon itself failed and left the wing, along with the engine. It is too early to be more specific but in response, Boeing, who bought McDonnell Douglas some years ago, have requested all operators to ground the fleets of MD-11 aircraft. This involved UPS, Fed Ex and possibly another operator.
A link to a generic drawing of an underwing engine mounting, based on the DC10 system is here https://static0.simpleflyingimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/1280px-DC-10_engine-pylon.svg-1000×483.png
