Date: January 14, 2026
By: Drew FitzGerald, Wall Street Journal
Summary:
Federal investigators probing the November 2025 UPS cargo plane crash in Louisville, Kentucky, identified a fatigue-cracked engine mount as the likely cause of the disaster, and revealed Boeing had documented the same part failing four times previously on different aircraft — and chose not to mandate a fix. The UPS Airlines MD-11 freighter lost its left engine on takeoff and crashed into an industrial area, killing 3 crew members and 12 people on the ground. The NTSB found metal fatigue cracks in the left pylon aft mount, the structural component connecting the engine to the wing. Investigators discovered Boeing had flagged this exact failure mode in 2011 but determined it "would not result in a safety of flight condition" — a conclusion now under intense scrutiny. Boeing had issued a non-mandatory service bulletin, which UPS was not required to follow. The failed part had not been inspected for over four years prior to the crash. Following the accident, UPS retired its entire remaining MD-11 fleet. The investigation has renewed questions about how Boeing and the FAA handle safety-related service bulletins on aging aircraft.
One-Sentence Summary: Investigators found that a fatigue-cracked engine mount caused the deadly 2025 UPS cargo crash — a part Boeing had previously identified as a known failure risk but declined to mandate fixing.
Attribution: For more information, please refer to the Wall Street Journal