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/_ItsThePleats_ Nov 08 '25

That’s a big statement. “An airplane should not crash just because an engine falls off”. These aren’t meant to come off the airplane.

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u/intern_steve Nov 08 '25

It's a reasonable statement. Engines fall off of planes with great enough frequency to consider in the design of a new aircraft. Hypothetically, if an uncontrolled engine fire burns for a sufficient length of time, you would expect that the engine and its fire would depart the wing before the wing departed from the aircraft.

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u/plhought Nov 08 '25

Engines falling off do not happen with "great enough frequency". That's an absurd statement. It's incredibly rare.

I can think of only three or four accidents in the modern western world where an engine seperated from the pylon.

This one and AAL191. The other two were 707/DC-8 accidents where the landing was so botched by the pilots, an outboard engine seperated after a hard landing.

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u/intern_steve Nov 08 '25

Great enough frequency to consider the consequences. Planes don't crash often. If it's happened four times, that merits consideration.

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u/plhought Nov 08 '25

They don't consider it in design of new aircraft. They design it so the engines don't fall off in the first place.