{"id":7794,"date":"2026-05-19T14:31:58","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T14:31:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=7794"},"modified":"2026-05-19T14:31:58","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T14:31:58","slug":"ntsb-opens-hearings-on-why-ups-cargo-plane-engine-fell-off-causing-deadly-crash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=7794","title":{"rendered":"NTSB opens hearings on why UPS cargo plane engine fell off, causing deadly crash"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By JOSH FUNK, AP Transportation Writer<\/strong><\/p>\n

Federal safety investigators opened two days of hearings Tuesday to examine why the engine flew off a UPS cargo plane last year, causing a crash that killed 15 people, and why Boeing didn\u2019t address an underlying flaw sooner.<\/p>\n

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The engine separated from the MD-11\u2019s wing as it accelerated down the runway Louisville\u2019s Muhammad Ali International Airport in November. The crash killed three pilots on the plane and 12 people on the ground. More were injured.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlease know: Your loved ones are the reason we\u2019re here. We want to find out what happened,\u201d Jennifer Homendy, chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, said as she addressed families during her opening remarks.<\/p>\n

The hearings, which involve NTSB staff, Boeing, UPS, labor unions and other parties, will stretch into Wednesday. The NTSB\u2019s final report likely won\u2019t be ready until more than a year after the crash because it will look at every potential factor.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what you should know:<\/p>\n

The crash<\/h4>\n

The UPS plane, which was headed for Hawaii loaded with packages and fuel, had barely left the ground and cleared the airport fence when it crashed into several nearby Louisville businesses and created a massive fireball.<\/p>\n

Dramatic photos the NTSB released after the crash showed the engine detaching and flying up and over the wing as flames erupted on the wing. The final images show the plane ablaze as it briefly gets airborne, leaving behind trails of smoke.<\/p>\n

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All MD-11s and DC-10s, a predecessor aircraft, were grounded after the crash. NTSB investigators said Tuesday that similar part flaws were found in three other UPS planes and a DC-10.<\/p>\n

The Louisville disaster was reminiscent of a 1979 crash in Chicago involving a DC-10. The left engine also fell off in that crash, which killed 273 people and led to the worldwide grounding of 274 DC-10s.<\/p>\n

The airliner returned to the skies because the NTSB determined that maintenance workers had damaged the plane that crashed while improperly using a forklift to reattach the engine. That meant the crash wasn\u2019t caused by a fatal design flaw even though there had already been a number of accidents involving DC-10s.<\/p>\n

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But even at that point, the plane\u2019s manufacturer, McDonnell Douglas, raised concerns about the spherical bearing that helps hold the engines to the wings. McDonnell Douglas later merged with Boeing.<\/p>\n

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