![\"J.](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/0023726f-614.jpg\"\/)
\nThe US National Transportation Safety Board is leading the probe into the crash<\/p>\n
UPS and FedEx said 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>\n
A UPS MD-11 crashed late on Tuesday, erupting into a fireball moments after takeoff from Louisville’s international airport.<\/p>\n
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 yesterday.<\/p>\n
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>\n
FedEx said it operates 28 MD-11s and, according to a UPS factsheet, UPS had 27 in its fleet prior to the crash.<\/p>\n
“We made this decision proactively at the recommendation of the aircraft manufacturer,” UPS said in its statement.<\/p>\n
Boeing, which acquired the MD-11 program through its1997 merger with McDonnell Douglas, said in an emailed statement it recommended that UPS and FedEx suspend flight operations of the MD-11 freighter.<\/p>\n
“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>\n
Production of the MD-11 planes ended in 2000, and passenger service officially ended in 2014.<\/p>\n
\nThe US National Transportation Safety Board is leading the probe into the crash<\/p>\n
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>\n
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>\n
UPS is the number one air cargo service provider for the US Postal Service, transporting Priority and other speedy mail products.<\/p>\n
NTSB leads probe<\/p>\n
The US National Transportation Safety Board is leading the probe into the crash of the 34-year-old MD-11 freighter at the Louisville airport.<\/p>\n
The plane reached about 30.5 metres above ground level before plunging in flames off the runway and destroying two nearby businesses.<\/p>\n
One of the plane’s three engines detached from the left wing as it rolled down the Louisville airport runway.<\/p>\n
Yesterday, US 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>\n
While UPS flight 2976 began uneventfully, a repeating bell was heard on the aircraft’s cockpit voice recorder just 37seconds after the crew called for takeoff thrust, NTSB member Todd Inman told reporters.<\/p>\n
NTSB anticipates issuing a preliminary investigation report into the crash in about 30 days.<\/p>\n
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>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UPS and FedEx said they have grounded their combined fleet of more than 50 McDonnell Douglas MD-11 cargo…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":128518,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[93,61,60,282],"class_list":["post-128517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128517"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128517\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/128518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}