OAN Staff Katherine Mosack
3:31 PM – Saturday, November 8, 2025
UPS and FedEx announced they have grounded their combined more than 50 McDonnell Douglas MD-11 cargo planes “out of an abundance of caution” after a crash in Louisville, Kentucky, that killed at least 14 people.
On Tuesday, a UPS MD-11 crashed near Muhammad Ali International Airport, having burst into flames shortly after its takeoff headed to Honolulu. The death toll from the crash climbed from an initial three pilots to 14, according to a social media post from Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg on Friday.
MD-11 aircrafts make up about 9% of the UPS airline fleet and about 4% of the FedEx fleet, according to both companies.
“We made this decision proactively at the recommendation of the aircraft manufacturer,” a UPS statement said late on Friday. “Nothing is more important to us than the safety of our employees and the communities we serve.”
FedEx said that it was “immediately implementing contingency plans” to avoid disruptions in their delivery operations.
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According to aviation analytics firm Circum, Western Global Airlines is the only other U.S. cargo airline that utilizes MD-11s, and 12 of them have been put into storage.
Boeing had announced in 1998 that it would be phasing out MD-11 jetliner production. Final deliveries were in 2000.
The UPS cargo plane was built in 1991. The pilots struggled to control the aircraft as it reached a height of 100 feet above the runway while its left wing burned, before plunging in flames off the runway. The crash destroyed two nearby businesses.
National Transportation Safety Board member Todd Inman said on Friday that the sound of a bell was picked up in the cockpit by a voice recorder. The bell went off for 25 seconds as the plane barely lifted off the ground, and it was likely a warning for the fire that ignited in the wing.
These recorders, known as black boxes, were designed to withstand crashes and intense heat, and they appeared to be intact when discovered amongst debris. Investigators are still reviewing data from the black boxes.
UPS is the number one air cargo service provider for the United States Postal Service.
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash of the 34-year-old freighter at the Louisville airport.
The most recent UPS cargo plane crash was in 2013, when an Airbus aircraft attempted to land at the international airport in Birmingham, Alabama, killing both crew members onboard.
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