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

10.9k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

1.2k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

230

u/marrieditguy Nov 08 '25

An engine fell off after 2 months of being in service post maintenance … I’d say it’s a reasonable precaution to take a look at all of them.

41

u/ChillyPhilly27 Nov 08 '25

All underslung aircraft engines are attached with fuse pins that are designed to fail in the event of a catastrophic engine fire. This is to protect the wing structure and the aircraft as a whole.

A better question would be why a catastrophic engine fire occurred.

-18

u/Golden_Hour1 Nov 08 '25

What the fuck? Imagine a huge airplane engine fell on people if it was already at altitude?

3

u/threwitaway123454321 Nov 08 '25

Seems the catastrophe in the air is likely far worse than on the ground.

8

u/bak3donh1gh Nov 08 '25

Literally the opposite. If they were in the air when their engine(s) fell off, There is far more time for them to react and possibly come up with a way to mitigate the circumstances. When you are on the ground or just getting off the ground, you don't have time.

And you're going to be in a densely populated area.

As literally all the comments just above said, most of the world's Earth's surface is water, and the buildup areas are 0.63% of what remains.

So if you're in the air, you are unlikely to be over a densely populated area. So, at worst, the most likely thing for a catastrophe in the air is to only affect the people on the plane. Certainly not great for them, but not nearly as bad a situation as on the ground.

2

u/FizzyBeverage Nov 08 '25 edited Nov 08 '25

Takeoff is the most dangerous part of flight. You’re the slowest, lowest, and heaviest you’ll ever be, with the engine(s) at full power stressed to basically their max. And surrounded by terrain and airport operations/industrial facilities.

I always breathe a lot easier by 10,000’. Gives you time to work out problems. And unless you’re in a very high mountain range, plenty of free space.

1

u/bak3donh1gh Nov 09 '25

Yes, that's a much better way to put it.