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<p>UPS and FedEx said on Friday they have grounded their combined fleet of more than 50 McDonnell Douglas MD-11 cargo planes following a crash in Louisville, Kentucky this week that killed at least 14 people.</p>
<p>A UPS MD-11 crashed late on Tuesday, erupting into a fireball moments after takeoff from Louisville’s international airport. The death toll from the crash, the cause of which is still under investigation, has risen to 14, according to a post on X by Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg on Friday.</p>
<p>UPS and FedEx, the world’s largest cargo carriers, said in separate statements that they grounded the aircraft “out of an abundance of caution.”</p>
<p>FedEx said it operates 28 MD-11s and, according to a UPS factsheet, UPS had 27 in its fleet prior to the crash.</p>
<p>“We made this decision proactively at the recommendation of the aircraft manufacturer,” UPS said in its statement.</p>
<p>Boeing, which acquired the MD-11 program through its 1997 merger with McDonnell Douglas, said in an emailed statement it recommended that UPS and FedEx suspend flight operations of the MD-11 freighter.</p>
<p>“This recommendation was made in an abundance of caution and we will continue coordinating with the FAA on this matter,” a Boeing spokesperson said.</p>
<p>Production of the MD-11 planes ended in 2000, and passenger service officially ended in 2014.</p>
<p>FedEx, which has a total fleet of 700 aircraft, said it was “immediately implementing contingency plans” to avoid disruptions. UPS said that its MD-11s account for only 9% of its fleet.</p>
<p>Still, any potential disruptions could have far-reaching consequences as FedEx and UPS are the workhorses for transferring goods around the world for major retailers like Amazon.com, Walmart, and Target, as well as for manufacturers and businesses.</p>
<p>UPS is the No. 1 air cargo service provider for the U.S. Postal Service, transporting Priority and other speedy mail products.</p>
<p>The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board is leading the probe into the crash of the 34-year-old MD-11 freighter at the Louisville airport. The plane reached about 100 feet (30.5 meters) above ground level before plunging in flames off the runway and destroying two nearby businesses.</p>
<p>One of the plane’s three engines detached from the left wing as it rolled down the Louisville airport runway.</p>
<p>On Friday, U.S. safety investigators said that as a warning bell sounded in the cockpit, three UPS pilots had tried to wrestle control of the plane just before it crashed.</p>
<p>While UPS flight 2976 began uneventfully, a repeating bell was heard on the aircraft’s cockpit voice recorder just 37 seconds after the crew called for takeoff thrust, NTSB member Todd Inman told reporters.</p>
<p>NTSB anticipates issuing a preliminary investigation report into the crash in about 30 days.</p>
<p>The last UPS cargo plane to crash was in August 2013, when an Airbus aircraft went down on a landing approach to the international airport in Birmingham, Alabama, killing both crew members.</p>
<p>(Reporting by Rishabh Jaiswal and Dheeraj Kumar in Bengaluru and Joe Brock in Los Angeles; Editing by William Mallard, Thomas Derpinghaus and Himani Sarkar)</p>
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<br /><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ups-and-fedex-ground-md-11-fleets-after-deadly-louisville-crash">Source link </a></p>
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UPS And FedEx Ground MD-11 Fleets After Deadly Louisville Crash
