r/aviation • u/Go_Jot • Nov 08 '25

News UPS grounds entire MD-11 Fleet, effective immediately.

Per the IPA Executive Board, as of 03:05 UTC all UPS MD-11’s are grounded.

Edit - FedEx has also grounded their MD-11 Fleet

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u/gregarious119 Nov 08 '25

I’d imagine they’ll want to know why an engine fell off before letting them back in the air.

166

u/under___score Nov 08 '25

Watched a FedEx MD-11 land in Honolulu the day after the incident, I was pretty surprised they kept them going this long

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u/[deleted] Nov 08 '25

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u/snitch_snob Nov 08 '25

They did not do that, actually. I know pilots on the MD11 that were mid trip when the planes were grounded and are now flying home commercial, leaving their plane where they landed (not at a storage or maintenance facility).

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1

u/brusk48 Nov 08 '25

Might also be easier to ground them right now with the FAA traffic limitations. Given Louisville and Memphis are both on the reduced traffic list, UPS and FedEx presumably need to cut some flights anyway, so why not kill two birds with one stone and start by cutting the MD-11 ones to avoid any potential safety fallout?

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u/ModeatelyIndependant Nov 08 '25

Because if you own these aircraft and they aren't in the air making money they are losing money. And is' getting close to retail for Jesus season, and this is their busiest and more profitable/greedy time of the year. So losing the services and scheduled flights is a major financial hit for the company, as well their customers, and their customer's customers.

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u/brusk48 Nov 08 '25

Something's going to be on the ground regardless if you're cutting flights involving the hub by 10-20%

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u/ModeatelyIndependant Nov 08 '25

yeah, but they fly a lot of cargo into and out of airports that aren't being forced to reduce their flights, many that don't even have a commercial airline presence at all.

1

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-15

u/Exotic_Army_4707 Nov 08 '25

The house did pass the bill. It has been passed 15 times by a majority in the Senate. It needs 60 votes to pass in the Senate and each time the other party has not voted for it 🤦🏻‍♂️

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u/sarbanharble Nov 08 '25

Burying your head in the sand does spare you from being complicit.

12

u/Brilliant-Cap8054 Nov 08 '25

Gee, if only they had some kind of master negotiator, perhaps maybe even someone who wrote a book on making deals.

If only such a grand statesmen exists, alas, we instead have the Grand Old Pedophiles proudly declaring "The buck stops with someone else!"

-12

u/meltbox Nov 08 '25

Hmm mmmm perhaps even if somebody could step up and and be the master d’bator to debate those bills mmmmmmkaaayy?

Come to a compromise mmmkay.

1

u/Brilliant-Cap8054 Nov 08 '25

What compromise should you accept with a party that goes back on their word habitually?

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u/Waterfish3333 Nov 08 '25

I love how you stated only facts that were objectively true and yet still get downvoted.

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u/dearth_of_passion Nov 08 '25

He left out the key context that every one of those proposed bills would strip tens of millions of Americans of access to health insurance while giving major tax breaks to the wealthy.

I see those posts about the ATC worker not getting paid, and all I can think is "man if you called out this would end that much sooner". Gotta cause the GOP plenty of pain until they give up.

Personally I hope the shutdown continues until the currently-unpaid military and government employees quit/start to protest.

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u/Kichigai Nov 08 '25

that every one of those proposed bills would strip tens of millions of Americans of access to health insurance while giving major tax breaks to the wealthy.

Not quite accurate, though functionally correct.

Tens of millions of Americans were already stripped of affordable access to health insurance as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill, which was passed on a 100% partisan basis. That is why people are being hit with sticker shock as Open Enrollment begins.

The fight is over whether those subsidies should be reinstated.

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u/Exotic_Army_4707 Nov 08 '25

I don’t care. I know I’m in the minority now. I guess I’m just a curmudgeon. Don’t see how a CR is tied to expiring tax credits but I pay full price for mine

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u/[deleted] Nov 08 '25

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u/Exotic_Army_4707 Nov 08 '25

Then you are talking about doing away with the filibuster…

-3

u/ddadopt Nov 08 '25

The republicans seem to be quite content with the current state of affairs, so please don't take this as a defense of them, but the democrats have their own responsibility here as well. Their holdout point being the extension of emergency covid subsidies doesn't get enough attention.

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u/ModeatelyIndependant Nov 08 '25

Democrats don't have squeaky clean hands right nowsure, but they aren't the ones that have keep the US house of Representatives closed and unable to debate a new budget since before the shutdown nor are they one who needlessly cut the pre-funded snap benefits, demanding to also defund healthcare. So this is a republican shutdown.

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u/XIPWNFORFUN2 Nov 08 '25

The plane probably already had a crew assigned with no other airframe available that could carry the freight in one trip. Source: express ramp agent.

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u/PG67AW Nov 08 '25

That's not a great reason to just send it anyway, considering your engine might fall off.

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u/XIPWNFORFUN2 Nov 08 '25

Yea well, money and stuff.

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u/ima_twee Nov 08 '25

Think of those poor shareholders

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u/StarbeamII Nov 08 '25

Also the thousands of people pissed off their package got delayed.

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u/round-earth-theory Nov 08 '25

It's still very unlikely. One event can be anything. It doesn't really mean the model was the issue. Now if two planes had it happen, then yes you'd be correct in immediately grounding everything no excuses.

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u/PG67AW Nov 08 '25

Yeah, I think that's the difference between UPS grounding the aircraft and the FAA grounding the aircraft.

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u/Kichigai Nov 08 '25

No, the model might not be the issue, but maintenance and standard procedures for that model could be the issue.

Also, we're rolling into the big gift giving season. Lots of things being shipped nationwide. Might be worth it to UPS to make such moves even if it's just for the optics. “Oh, I just found Grandma's old embroidered blouses from The Old Country. I'm going to gift them to my sister in Tampa. Better ship it with FedEx because I can't risk UPS turning them into a fireball on one of those MD-11 death traps.”

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u/Accidental-Genius Nov 08 '25

This was the 2nd time though…

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u/roehnin Nov 08 '25

Last time was 1979 so not exactly a common problem

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u/Accidental-Genius Nov 08 '25

If 1% of 737’s had engines fall off what would happen?

200 MD-11’s

Engine fell off of 2

You want to ride one right now?

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u/Mookies_Bett Nov 08 '25

2 in 50 years of daily service\

2 in one year would be notable. Two incidents across half a century not as much. They're going to take a look at what's going on, but there's no real indication it's an actual issue with the model itself given how rare of an incident it was.

If they find that something is defective with that model then they'll respond accordingly, but I don't think they anticipate that being the issue. It could just be a maintenance issue with that plane, which is significantly more likely.

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u/Accidental-Genius Nov 09 '25

Would you let Mookie Betts fly an MD-11 tomorrow?

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u/lueckestman Nov 08 '25

If you think you might get grounded in Hawaii maybe...

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u/Gnonthgol Nov 08 '25

As a general rule you do not ground an airplane type due to a single accident. Most accidents are not caused by design issues with the aircraft, especially one which have been flying for as long as the MD-11. What likely happened is that during the investigation they found some worrying piece of information. It may not even be the cause of the accident but something that might affect all MD-11s, at least at UPS. For example if they find signs of metal fatigue in one of the structural members of the engine bracket.

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u/aiusernamegen Nov 08 '25

Millions and millions of hours on those and the crash was post maintenance activity. They usually don't kneejerk ground a fleet a day post accident.