US transportation safety board releases initial report on November 2025 crash that killed 15 people in Louisville
An engine part suspected of causing the crash of a UPS cargo plane and loss of 15 lives in Louisville in November was the subject of at least four previous failures on three separate aircraft, investigators have found.
A preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released Wednesday determined that Boeing warned plane owners about the defect, but did not believe it was a flight safety issue and did not require immediate repairs.
Freight companies UPS and FedEx temporarily grounded their fleets of MD-11s, manufactured by McDonnell Douglas before its takeover by Boeing, after the 4 November 2025 crash at Muhammad Ali international airport when an engine on the plane’s left wing caught fire and detached.
The aircraft’s crew of three were killed, along with 12 people on the ground, with the most recent person dying on Christmas Day. The crash is the subject of at least one lawsuit, with relatives of a woman who died on the ground claiming UPS was negligent for keeping the MD-11 aircraft in service, despite known maintenance problems.
