NTSB: Boeing had flagged MD-11F assembly fractures before Louisville UPS crash

The National Transportation Safety Board said in a report on Wednesday that a UPS cargo MD-11F that crashed in Louisville, Ky., last year had a structural flaw that Boeing had previously concluded would not affect flight safety. The N.T.S.B. said cracks in the assembly holding the left-side engine in place may have contributed to the Nov.

4 crash; the part had fractured in similar fashion at least four other times on three different airplanes, the report said, citing a 2011 Boeing service letter. In that letter, Boeing said such fractures "would not result in a safety of flight condition," N.T.S.B. investigators wrote.

The jet caught fire on its left engine shortly after takeoff and crashed into several buildings, including a petroleum recycling facility, killing the three crew members on board and 11 people on the ground; a 12th person on the ground later died of injuries, bringing the death toll to 15.

Boeing had recommended that the part be inspected every 60 months; the N.T.S.B.'s preliminary report said UPS's policy was a general visual inspection every 72 months and that the part was last checked on Oct. 28, 2021, about 49 months before the crash. The preliminary report also said the bearings had been lubricated on Oct.

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World, Boeing, Ntsb, Ups, Muhammad Ali Airport, Faa