A United Parcel Service MD-11 crashed while taking off from Muhammad Ali International Airport in Louisville, Kentucky last week, killing all three pilots and 11 people on the ground. In response, the Federal Aviation Administration grounded all McDonnell Douglas MD-11 cargo planes on Saturday until inspection can be carried out and any potential issues are corrected. The order was preceded by both UPS and FedEx removing their MD-11s from service “out of an abundance of caution” the day prior.
The National Transportation Safety Board is still investigating the crash, but noted that the UPS MD-11’s left engine detached from the wing during its takeoff roll. The engine was found in the grass beside the runway. It’s not yet known how or why the engine came off the 34-year-old plane. The retirement-bound trijet was showing its age before the incident as, according to the Wall Street Journal, the crashed trijet was grounded in September to repair a cracked fuel tank. The shipping giant still has 27 MD-11s in its fleet and plans to phase out the McDonnell Douglas model by 2032.
The MD-11’s grounding could impact holiday shipping
While the MD-11 might constitute a small percentage of the 292-plane UPS fleet, it’s significant enough to impact the company’s shipping operations. It’s a similar situation for FedEx and the 26 MD-11s in its 382-plane fleet. As the holiday season approached, the demand for shipping increased. Jeremy Tancredi, a former UPS industrial engineer, told NPR, “As that peak volume increases and you need every bit of transportation capacity, not having 26 planes could be a real big factor for them.” Whether the grounding will affect your holiday delivery will depend on how long the MD-11 is out of service.
While flight capacity has been a public concern over the past few weeks due to the federal government shutdown, cargo airlines weren’t impacted by the FAA-mandated 10% reduction in flights. The restriction applied primarily to daytime services. FedEx and UPS tend to operate flights during the night when air traffic controller workload is at its lowest. Apart from aircraft, shipping companies can also shift deliveries to truck and rail transportation.
