NTSB holding 2 days of hearings on the Louisville UPS plane crash

Key Points:

• Investigators found records of 10 previous flaws in the spherical bearings securing engines to wings on MD-11 and similar planes, most unreported to the FAA, following a UPS cargo plane crash in Kentucky that killed 15 people.
• The engine separated from the plane during takeoff at Louisville’s airport, causing a fiery crash that killed all three pilots and 12 people on the ground, with 23 others injured; cracks in engine mount parts had gone undetected during regular maintenance.
• The NTSB hearings revealed that Boeing did not require repairs for earlier bearing flaws, deeming them non-critical, and the FAA did not issue directives to enforce replacements, while UPS officials said incomplete information hindered preventive actions.
• Similar part flaws were found in other UPS and DC-10 planes, leading to grounding of all MD-11s and DC-10s after the crash; some MD-11s have resumed flying after FAA-approved bearing replacements and increased inspections.
• The crash echoes a 1979 DC-10 accident caused by engine detachment, prompting worldwide grounding then; however, that earlier crash was attributed to maintenance error, not design flaws, though bearing concerns were noted historically.