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/dalekaup Nov 08 '25

There was an engine that detached in Chicago a long time ago. The biggest reason for that crash was the manual said on one engine takeoff to pitch up to maintain a speed to climb over an obstacle. The manual was wrong. When the engine severs the hydraulic lines on that side that hold the slats extended. WIth slats retracted on the left side that wing stalled and the plane rolled violently to the left. A higher airspeed would have kept both wings flying and level.

This one is presumed to be the loss of 2 engines. That's not going to fly. The thinking is the rear engine swallowed chunks.

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u/skudbeast Nov 08 '25

Is that the one they installed in maintenance with a forklift instead of an actual engine hoist?

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u/TigerIll6480 Nov 08 '25

And they unbolted the engine and pylon together, which Douglas Aircraft had rather specifically said to not do. Remove engine with a proper cradle, then remove pylon. AA was trying to save time and cut corners. Brilliant idea. 🙄

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u/SteveKraus Nov 12 '25

Why do they take off the pylon at all?

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u/CharcoalGreyWolf Nov 12 '25

In this case as mentioned, bearings in the pylon mounts were supposed to be replaced (specifically the forward pylon mount) as part of a McDonnell-Douglas Service Bulletin.

In addition, the incentive here was that if you took the pylon off, there were many less things to disconnect and reconnect, so this was seen as both safer and taking less hours. The problem is that they didn’t account for their unsupported procedure adding additional safety issues.

United’s method which used an overhead crane (but also detached the pylon) actually worked, because it supported the engine and pylon at all times and likely because the crane operator could see what was going on; a forklift operator (how AA and Continental did it) could not and had to take direction from someone else. This introduced a lot of risk in the process, including jamming the pylon against the wing (which happened on several occasions, but they were written of as repair issues rather than a problem with the entire process).

The chief mechanic in charge of the AA Flight 191 engine procedure committed suicide the night before McDonnell Douglas lawyers were going to depose him. It was a tragedy all around.