The recent fiery crash of a UPS cargo plane shortly after takeoff has raised serious concerns about the future of the MD-11 airliner, a model that has been exclusively used for cargo transport for over a decade. The incident occurred when the plane’s left engine detached from its wing, sparking a massive fire and causing the aircraft to crash into several businesses near Muhammad Ali International Airport in Louisville, Kentucky. Tragically, all 14 people aboard—including the three crew members—lost their lives. The plane managed to climb only about 30 feet before the catastrophic failure.
This accident has prompted the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to ground all 109 remaining MD-11s, as well as the 10 remaining related DC-10 aircraft, pending further investigation and mandated inspections. The FAA’s swift grounding order signals deep concerns about the safety of the fleet, but the ultimate fate of these aging planes remains uncertain. The MD-11, a three-engine aircraft introduced in the late 1980s, has been a staple in the cargo industry, particularly for companies like UPS, FedEx, and Western Global. However, the fleet averages over 30 years in age, and its future hinges on the cost and feasibility of repairs as well as whether investigators uncover any inherent design flaws.
Mary Schiavo, a former U.S. Department of Transportation Inspector General, expressed skepticism about the viability of continuing to operate the MD-11s. She noted that better and safer options exist from manufacturers like Boeing and Airbus, even though acquiring new planes can involve long wait times due to production backlogs. Schiavo suggested that the grounding and inspection orders indicate the FAA’s serious concerns about the aircraft’s safety but emphasized that final decisions will depend on the investigation’s findings.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which is leading the investigation, revealed that cracks were found in critical components that failed to keep the engine attached to the wing during takeoff. This failure echoes a notorious 1979 crash involving an American Airlines DC-10, where the left engine detached after takeoff, causing a crash that killed 273 people in Chicago. That earlier disaster led to a worldwide grounding of DC-10s, the MD-11’s predecessor. However, after investigations concluded that the cause was improper maintenance—specifically damage caused by the use of a forklift during engine reattachment—the fleet was allowed back into service. This history complicates the current investigation, as the NTSB must determine whether the UPS crash resulted from a unique maintenance error or indicates a fundamental design flaw common to MD-11s and DC-10s.
The lugs—the structural parts that connect the engine to the wing—were identified as cracked and failed in the recent crash. While these lugs are located near the parts that failed in the 1979 DC-10 crash, they are not the same components. Investigators are working closely with Boeing, which acquired McDonnell Douglas (the original manufacturer of the MD-11) in 1997, to assess whether this issue could affect other aircraft or is isolated to the UPS plane.
Both the DC-10 and MD-11 models have historically had higher accident rates compared to other commercial planes, according to Boeing’s annual safety statistics. The DC-10 faced serious challenges in the 1970s, including two incidents involving the loss of rear cargo doors mid-flight. One of these, in 1974 near Paris, resulted in a crash that killed 346 people. Despite these setbacks, the DC-10 was popular among airlines for many years and even served as the basis for Air Force tanker planes that remained in service until recently.
The MD-11 was introduced by McDonnell Douglas in 1984 as an improved successor to the DC-10. It offered greater capacity and longer range, but its performance often fell short of expectations. Competing models from Boeing and Airbus, especially more fuel-efficient two-engine designs, eventually overshadowed the MD-11. Aviation experts like Schiavo describe the MD-11 as “practically obsolete” upon its release due to these operational disadvantages. Only about 200 MD-11s were produced between 1988 and 2000, and most initially carried passengers before transitioning to cargo roles. The last passenger MD-11 flight operated by KLM Royal Dutch Airlines took place in 2014.
Today, MD-11s make up roughly 9% of UPS’s fleet and 4% of Fed