WASHINGTON — The nation's top safety investigators will launch a fact-finding hearing Tuesday morning into what caused the deadly crash of UPS Flight 2976 in Louisville, Ky., last November.
The McDonnell Douglas MD-11 cargo plane got only 30 feet off the ground before crashing shortly after takeoff from Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport, according to a preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board.
The NTSB released dramatic photos of the left engine flying up and over the wing as the plane rolled down the runway, moments before it crashed and exploded in a massive fireball. The cargo plane was bound for Honolulu with a full load of jet fuel. Fifteen people were killed, including all three pilots on the plane.
The agenda for the two-day hearing at NTSB headquarters will include testimony from witnesses from UPS, the Federal Aviation Administration and Boeing. (The MD-11 was built by McDonnell Douglas, which was later bought by Boeing.)
Investigators at the NTSB have not said what they think caused the crash, but they released an investigative update in January focusing additional attention on the mounting system that attaches the engine to the wing of the MD-11.
Investigators said a spherical bearing that had cracked on Flight 2976 had also failed four previous times on other planes. The NTSB says Boeing had warned plane owners in 2011 about the problem. At the time, Boeing did not believe the problem posed a threat to flight safety, investigators wrote. But the company did update the service manual for the MD-11 to include a visual inspection of the spherical bearing that had failed.
"We continue to support the investigation led by the NTSB, including the upcoming investigative hearing. We extend our deepest condolences to those who lost loved ones in this accident," a Boeing spokesperson said in an email to NPR.
The Federal Aviation Administration grounded all MD-11s shortly after the crash pending further investigation. Earlier this month, the FAA allowed the planes to return to service after Boeing issued updated instructions to operators.
"After extensive review, the FAA approved Boeing's protocol for safely returning MD-11 airplanes to service," the agency said in a statement last week.
FedEx resumed flying MD-11 jets again earlier this month. "Over the past several months, our airline safety, engineering, and maintenance teams have conducted rigorous safety inspections, maintenance, and planning to prepare our MD-11 fleet to return to service," the company said in a statement.
The protocol developed by Boeing includes a new bearing in the engine mount on each side of the aircraft, according to FedEx. The company said two MD-11s have returned to revenue service so far, and that more jets will resume flying after they have been repaired and inspected.
UPS, on the other hand, said its MD-11 fleet would remain grounded.
"We made the decision to accelerate our plans and retire all MD-11 aircraft in our fleet," CEO Carol Tomé said during the company's fourth-quarter earnings call in January. The company will replace the remaining 26 MD-11s in its fleet with more efficient Boeing 767 planes, she said.
Copyright 2026 NPR
