UPS officials believe it will be several months before MD-11s — the model of plane that crashed in Louisville on Nov. 4, killing 14 people — are back in the skies, according to an internal letter obtained by The Courier Journal.
A letter, issued to employees by UPS Airlines President Bill Moore the week of Nov. 24, said the company’s MD-11 fleet will require inspections and potential repairs that are more extensive than originally thought. As a result, the planes are expected to remain grounded for “several months instead of weeks as originally anticipated,” Moore said in the letter.
UPS spokesman Jim Mayer confirmed to The Courier Journal on Nov. 27 that Moore sent the letter.
The revelation comes after the Federal Aviation Administration issued a directive November 8 temporarily grounded MD-11 aircraft until they undergo an inspection and “all applicable corrective actions”, previously reported The Courier Journal. The FAA updated its directive on November 14 to include the grounding of MD-10s and DC-10s, noting that “the models are subject to the same unsafe condition” as the MD-11s.
UPS is one of three MD-11 operators, along with FedEx and Western Global. MD-11s make up about 9% of the UPS jet fleet.
Originally manufactured by McDonnell Douglas, Boeing took over as the manufacturer of the MD-11 after the companies merged in 1997. Reuters reported on November 26 that Boeing is providing instructions and technical support to operators.
In his letter, Moore said Boeing’s ongoing evaluation of the aircraft model led to the determination that removal of the engines and pylons may be necessary for “detailed inspections and repairs.”
“While this is challenging, our position remains clear – we will not rush, we will not speculate and most importantly – we will not compromise security,” he wrote.
The National Transportation Safety Board’s preliminary report on the UPS crash, released on November 20, revealed that the plane began to take off when the left engine and its pylon, a structural component that connects the engine to the plane’s wing, separated from the wing. The NTSB’s preliminary report does not explicitly draw conclusions about its findings or mention a probable cause of the accident.
“Nothing is more important to us than the safety of our employees and the communities we serve. We will take the time necessary to ensure that every aircraft is safe,” Mayer, the UPS spokesman, said in a written statement. “Our contingency plans give us assurance that we will continue to effectively move package volume and deliver to our customers during peak season.”
Bradley Cosgrove, an attorney at Clifford Law Offices and an expert in aviation law, said the anticipated length of the grounding could indicate significant maintenance and inspection concerns. Clifford Law Offices is representing several families of Louisville crash victims.
“The length of the entire fleet being grounded suggests – at least to us – that there is a systemic and deep-rooted issue with inspection and maintenance concerns for this older aircraft such that the belief is that it is not safe to be in the air until detailed inspections and certain maintenance are done,” Cosgrove told The Courier Journal.
Reporters Matthew Glowicki and Olivia Evans contributed.
Killian Baarlaer covers Louisville Metro Government. He can be reached at kbaarlaer@courier-journal.com or @bkillian72 on X.
This article originally appeared on the Louisville Courier Journal: MD-11 fleet grounding could take months after Louisville crash