NTSB Finds Cracks in Engine Mount of UPS Jet That Crashed in Louisville

Federal investigators said Thursday that the left engine of a UPS cargo jet separated from its wing and caught fire as the plane took off in Louisville this month, and that the engine mount showed evidence of cracks. The National Transportation Safety Board’s preliminary report on the Nov. 4 crash of the McDonnell Douglas MD-11, which killed 14 people, described fractures in parts that attach the engine to the wing, the Associated Press reported in a story carried by PBS NewsHour.

The board released photographs that show the engine detaching and catching fire during the takeoff, the AP reported. The dead included three pilots and 11 people on the ground, the AP said at the time.

The NTSB found that the plane was not yet due for a detailed inspection of the engine mount parts. They were last closely examined in October 2021 and still had nearly 7,000 takeoffs and landings to go before the next detailed inspection, according to the AP and, in later coverage, CBS News (later source). It is not yet clear when the cracks began or whether an earlier inspection could have found them.

The board’s report noted a similar failure in 1979, when an American Airlines DC-10, the MD-11’s predecessor, crashed in Chicago, killing 273 people after an engine detached, the AP reported. CBS News also drew the comparison in its later coverage (later source).

The NTSB has not determined why the engine mount failed. CBS reported in January that the final report usually comes more than a year after a crash (later source). The FAA has not said what inspections or repairs it will require, or whether it will change inspection requirements for the aging jets, the AP reported.

CBS reported in January (later source) that the toll from the crash had been revised to 15, with three pilots and 12 people on the ground, in its account of the board’s later factual report.