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I got the most dreadful feeling when this story broke as my cousin works as a UPS pilot out of Louisville. Thankfully we were able to confirm quickly he wasn’t onboard.
The McDonnell Douglas MD-11F is a freight transport aircraft manufactured originally by McDonnell Douglas and later by Boeing.
Boeing
Okay, that's all I needed to know. Never fly in anything owned by Boeing.
If it's Boeing I ain't going.
The McDonnell Douglas board pulled off a reverse takeover of Boeing and turned them into what they are now.
But seriously damn that sucks for the workers on board that flight.
Cheney, dying: "Come on George, let's do one last one. Just for old times' sake."
That plane is 32 years old. Is 32 old for a plane still in service? Were they flying something with increased risk of some failure despite regular maintenance due to its age?
For a military craft? Not at all, because they get infinite money thrown at depot maintenance, inspections, and so forth. There are B-52H bombers still being flown that rolled off the line (at Boeing, no less) in 1960. Russia is still flying Tu-95s from around the same period, if not a little older.
A civilian craft, though? Uhhh, what do you mean change the brake pads? We gotta think of next quarter's profits! Just gas it up and fly already!
For passenger planes yes (I think most are retired before 20-25), but freighters fly longer.
Planes get essentially rebuilt a few times in their lives. If it's a good plane, metals aren't oxidizing, engines well cared for, they can go for a long time.
One big thing that took a lot of planes out of the sky was emissions modernization. New engine refit can cost nearly as much as a new plane.
Reposting my comment from the other thread:
Plane was doomed, that is simply not recoverable... explosive uncontained engine failure (including the entire engine literally detaching from the plane), possibly from runway debris, could cause catastrophic hydraulic damage and damage to control surfaces, looks like it may have taken out a second engine as well. Thrust from the right engine flips it over.
At max weight, you're too heavy, with only one engine. There's not enough runway to stop and not enough energy to fly. Intense fire burning up the left wing. Renders the aircraft completely unflyable. Sad to say, there's really nothing to be done at that point other than making peace with the end.
this post was submitted on 04 Nov 2025
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