UPS and FedEx make major move after tragic plane crash that killed 14 people
Topics: US News
Callum Jones
Featured Image Credit: Getty Images/Stephen Cohen
Topics: US News
UPS and FedEx have made a major move after a tragic plane crash in Kentucky this week ended the lives of 14 people.
On Tuesday (November 4), a triple-engined McDonnell Douglas MD-11 shortly after taking off from Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport in Kentucky.
Three crew members were onboard the airliner, which departed at 5.13pm, beginning what was meant to be an eight-and-a-half-hour flight to Honolulu, Hawaii.
According to tracking data from FlightRadar24, Flight 2976 taxied along runway 17R and accelerated to around 214 mph during takeoff.
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Moments later, footage captured the left wing bursting into flames as the plane climbed to roughly 175 feet, clearing the airport’s perimeter fence.
Investigators from the National Transport Safety Board (NTSB) believe that the engine detached from the left wing moment after takeoff, causing the aircraft to veer sideways and crash into several structures on the ground, including a fuel recycling facility, an auto repair business and a water bottling plant.
An investigation into the incident remains ongoing.
Now, UPS and FedEx have confirmed they are grounding their fleets of McDonnell Douglas MD-11 planes following the deadly crash.
The companies have confirmed roughly nine percent of the UPS airline fleets are made up of MD-11 aircrafts, while 4 percent make up FedEx's aircrafts.
UPS said in a statement issued on Friday (November 7): "We made this decision proactively at the recommendation of the aircraft manufacturer. Nothing is more important to us than the safety of our employees and the communities we serve."
Meanwhile, as per the New York Post and Associated Press, FedEx confirmed they were downing the fleets while it conducts 'a thorough safety review based on the recommendation of the manufacturer'.
In the aftermath of the crash, Shawn Pruchnicki, assistant professor at The Ohio State University in the College of Engineering, who flew as a Captain with a Delta Connection carrier for a period of a decade told UNILAD that losing an engine alone shouldn't be enough to cause such a devastating crash.
"That, in and of itself, doesn’t cause an airplane to crash. In fact, airliners are designed so that if you have an engine fire that you’re unable to put out, you go through the procedure, but if you can’t extinguish it and it keeps burning, sometimes the engine can even burn itself right off the airplane wing and fall off," Pruchnicki explained.
"Of course, it’s a big deal, but it doesn’t mean you’re going to crash."