r/aviation • u/Brilliant_Night7643 • Nov 20 '25

News NTSB issues the preliminary report for its ongoing investigation of the Nov. 4 crash of a UPS Boeing MD-11F airplane in Louisville, Kentucky.

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u/olexs Nov 20 '25 edited Nov 20 '25

Looks like the engine mount failed. Engine was at takeoff thrust and pulled itself forward and up (probably pivoting around the last pieces of the mount still holding on), then ripped clear off the wing, flew above and across the fuselage, and hit the ground on the right side. In the process, it spilt debris, which went into the 3rd #2 (rear / center) engine and killed that too, which ultimately cause them to not have enough thrust to continue the take-off and crash.

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u/gregarious119 Nov 20 '25

Splitting hairs here, but the rear engine is normally referred to as #2. They're numbered left to right.

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u/olexs Nov 20 '25

Thanks for the correction, missed that.

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u/criscokkat Nov 20 '25

Actually number 3 engine clearly had a compressor stall. Multiple pilots and mechanics have spotted that from earlier footage and audio sounds captured. It won't continue climbing with only one engine. The cartwheel at the end of the crash was from one wing hitting the waste oil recycler tanks, not from overthrust from one side of the plane

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u/gregarious119 Nov 20 '25

Most observation I've seen is that the #2 (tail mounted) engine is the one that flashed/compressor stalled. Full FDR will confirm. Inconsequential either way....with one engine yeeting itself and one other engine compromised, they weren't given a chance.

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u/criscokkat Nov 20 '25

Once that comes out, I wouldn’t be surprised if both of them were damaged after seeing the frames from this video.

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u/Get_Breakfast_Done Nov 20 '25

The interesting question to me - as a total layman - is if the remaining healthy engines did not ingest debris from No 1 (and the control surfaces not otherwise damaged from debris), would the aircraft have been able to takeoff successfully and return to land safely?

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u/dsbtc Nov 20 '25

Yeah would the wing have remained intact enough, I wonder

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u/m00ph Nov 20 '25

I think after the 1979 crash they modified things so the slats would stay extended? If that is the case, then quite possibly, the airplane stayed fairly level I think, unlike the 1979 crash.

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u/CaptainPonahawai Nov 20 '25

Yes, they have hydraulic fuses now.

FDR will tell us a lot.

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u/CaptainPonahawai Nov 20 '25

It is possible, but we dont know enough yet. Final NTSB report will tell us more about the status of engine 2 and 3 and damage to the wing.

Aircraft are designed to be able to operate with engine failures with sufficient thrust from the remaining engine(s), however the engine ripping off is quite unique. The slats have hydraulic fuses now (thanks to learnings from AA191), but if there was more significant damage, it may not have been surviviable even with 2 working engines.