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The widow and family of a crew member who lost their life during the UPS MD-11 crash in November 2025 have launched a case against Boeing, General Electric, and VT San Antonio Aerospace. The family is suing these organizations for wrongful death and negligence, considering the nature of the crash, based on the preliminary report released by the NTSB.
During the incident, the aircraft’s left engine was engulfed in flames before detaching from the wings, as the aircraft attempted to get airborne. Unfortunately, the aircraft crashed, resulting in 15 lives lost, including the three crew members onboard the aircraft.
Engine Separating From A Wing Is No Accident
Following the release of the NTSB’s preliminary report, it was found that the left engine of 
UPS Airlines MD-11, Flight 2976, caught fire and had detached from the wing upon takeoff, ultimately crashing soon thereafter. The relief officer onboard this flight was Captain Dana. Diamond and reports from WDRB state that the pilot’s family has now launched a lawsuit against Boeing, General Electric (GE), and VT San Antonio Aerospace, Inc. (the organization that performed maintenance on the aircraft).
The lawsuit launched against the three organizations claim wrongful death, negligence, loss of consortium, and related damages “for the multiple failures of the defendants that contributed to the engine separation and resulting crash”. The lawsuit is requesting punitive damages and a trial by jury for this case. As per the interim report, the aircraft had spent over a month prior to its crash in San Antonio, undergoing maintenance related to the aircraft’s fuel tank.
WDRB published the following quote from the attorney representing the Diamond family, Mark Lanier, regarding this lawsuit:
“When an engine separates from a wing seconds after takeoff, that’s not an accident,
That’s a failure by the companies responsible for building and maintaining that aircraft.”
More About The Crash In November
The unfortunate event occurred on the evening of November 4, when the 34-year-old McDonnell Douglas MD-11 freighter jet operated by UPS was taking off from its hub in Louisville International Airport (SDF). As per the initial findings and reports, the aircraft’s left engine was on fire just as the aircraft was taking off, and then completely detached from the aircraft’s wing. Data showed that an alarm was sounded in the flight deck for a duration of 25 seconds.
The aircraft crashed close to the airport site, with possible contributing factors including the loss of an engine (and the power it provided), along with the mass imbalance of a missing engine, preventing the aircraft from achieving lift as it should have, and negatively affecting the stability and control of the aircraft. 15 lives were lost during this crash, including all three crew members onboard the UP flight.
Immediately after the incident, major operators of the MD-11, which include UPS and Fedex Express, grounded their entire fleet of the aircraft type, citing it was “Out of an abundance of caution and in the interest of safety”. Following this, UPS made the decision to retire its entire subfleet of over two dozen MD-11 aircraft. However, FedEx, it appears, is still not ready to retire these tri-jets, and the operator’s fleet of 29 MD-11s are due to return to commercial operation soon.
Trust In The Trijet: Why FedEx Refuses To Retire The MD-11
FedEx has some unique advantages that allow it to return the MD-11 to the air this year.
A Known Issue With The Engine Mounting
In a report released by NTSB back in January, it was noted that a failure of the engine mounts on the aircraft was what caused the aircraft’s engine number one to separate on takeoff. Furthermore, it was also noted that the issues with the engine mounts were a known issue with the aircraft type, with records showing a service letter 
Boeing had issued to all operators of the aircraft type, regarding this issue in 2011.
The critical point was basically the bearings on the engine mounts, and as per the 2011 service letter, Boeing was made aware of fractures on the bearings, with it splitting into two and moving out of place on three different aircraft. While the service letter stated the MD-11 aircraft type would require regular inspections of the bearing assembly at the engine mounts, which was previously required only at five-year intervals, and included recommendations for replacement parts and a new design for the bearing assembly, this was not made mandatory. Boeing at the time stated that the bearing failure would not adversely affect the safety of flight.
Ultimately, it is now up to the NTSB to investigate every aspect of this crash and to evaluate the root cause of this event. While this includes evaluating Boeing’s reasoning on the flight safety not being affected, it also includes evaluating the maintenance logs of the aircraft and looking further into the details of the work and inspection that have been done on the aircraft previously. The full picture of this crash will only be visible once the NTSB releases its final investigation report.
