Federal safety investigators will hold hearings this week examining why the engine flew off a UPS cargo plane last year, causing a crash that killed 15 people, and why Boeing didn’t address the underlying flaw sooner. The engine separated from the MD-11’s wing as it accelerated down the runway Louisville’s Muhammad Ali International Airport in November, killing three pilots on the plane and 12 more people on the ground. The National Transportation Safety Board’s hearings on Tuesday and Wednesday will focus on why that happened. The agency’s final report likely won’t be ready until more than a year after the crash because the NTSB will look at everything that might have contributed to the crash.Here’s what you should know:
What happened in the crashThe 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. 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 gets airborne, leaving behind trails of smoke.The crash was reminiscent of a 1979 crash in Chicago involving a DC-10, which was the predecessor of the trimotor jet that crashed in Louisville. The left engine also fell off in that crash that killed 273 people.
