Investigators say UPS plane that crashed in Kentucky, killing 14, had cracks in engine mount

[Omaha Steve]

https://apnews.com/article/ups-plane-crash-louisville-ecb71ae0fe6ca10c2b79c3294a06db28

By JOSH FUNK and ED WHITE
Updated 6:25 PM CST, November 20, 2025

Federal investigators released dramatic photos Thursday of an engine flying off a doomed UPS cargo plane that crashed two weeks ago in Kentucky, killing 14 people, and said there was evidence of cracks in the left wing’s engine mount.

A series of six photos showed the rear of the engine starting to detach before it flew up and over the wing as flames erupted. The next image shows the wing engulfed by fire as the burning engine flies above it. The last image shows the plane starting to get airborne.

But the MD-11 plane only got 30 feet (9.1 meters) off the ground, the National Transportation Safety Board said, citing the flight data recorder in its first formal but preliminary report about the Nov. 4 disaster in Louisville, Kentucky.

Three pilots on the plane were killed along with 11 more people on the ground near Muhammad Ali International Airport.

FULL story at link above.

[Chasstev365]

1. Seems very similar to the AA Flight 191 DC 10 crash in Chicago in 1979

The engine flew of and hit the hydraulic system on the wing which made the plane unmaneuverable.

[boonecreek]

4. Virtually identical.

My guess is the investigation will show improper maintenance procedures were the cause.

[VMA131Marine]

6. Correct! I believe maintenance and inspection procedures

used by UPS and any third party contractors will prove to be the key to finding the cause of this accident. The question is going to be how many other aircraft in the UPS MD-11 fleet are going to be affected.

[VMA131Marine]

5. Yes, the engine flew off on AA 191 but

there was no fire and the plane would have been flyable had the crew known that the left side slats had retracted due to the loss of hydraulic pressure on that side. Unfortunately, the crew followed the SOP for a single engine out which was to reduce the airspeed to the engine-out best climb speed. This was below the stall speed for the left wing. A further issue was that only the captain’s yoke had a stick shaker and this became inoperative after the engine detached because it was powered by the left engine generator; there was no redundancy for this warning system. Thus, when the aircraft was slowed down the left wing stalled and the aircraft rolled to the right initiating the crash sequence. Flight simulations after the accident showed the DC-10 could have been flown and landed safely had the crew known about the disagreement in slat position.

In this MD-11 accident, the outbreak of fire on the left wing probably precluded the aircraft making a safe landing even if it had been able to climb because key wing structures would likely have burned through and failed before a landing attempt could have been made. My guess is that flames from the huge fire on the left wing got sucked into the centre engine intake which would dramatically reduce the available thrust on that engine. It’s possible the right engine got FODed by debris as well since images seem to show a series of compressor stalls on that engine. The UPS crew’s situation was basically hopeless once they reached V1.

[PJMcK]

2. This is an excellent report

[chicoescuela]

3. Ugh. Horrible