Federal safety investigators identified maintenance failures and ignored warnings as contributing factors in the crash of a UPS cargo plane in Louisville, Kentucky, that killed 15 people last November, according to The New York Times.
At a National Transportation Safety Board hearing held earlier this week in Washington, D.C., witnesses from UPS, the Federal Aviation Administration, Boeing $BA +3.33%, the Teamsters, and ST Engineering San Antonio Aerospace — the firm that had serviced the aircraft — faced questioning from investigators. Among the contributing factors that emerged: engine mount components were not required to be inspected frequently enough, relevant safety data was not shared across departments, and many mechanics and key personnel had no knowledge of years-old Boeing warnings about a potentially dangerous bearing assembly failure.
UPS Flight 2976, a McDonnell Douglas MD-11F bound for Hawaii, lost its left engine and pylon shortly after taking off from Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport on Nov. 4, 2025. All three pilots on the McDonnell Douglas MD-11F died in the crash, as did 12 people on the ground after the aircraft struck a business complex near the airport, with almost two dozen others injured, according to CBS News. The NTSB also released new video at the hearing showing the engine separating from the aircraft in a fireball as the jet rolled down the runway.
