In November, 2025, McDonnell Douglas MD-11 cargo jet operated by UPS crashed at Louisville Kentucky. According to the authorities, this tragic crash took away 12 lives.
MD-11 is a trijet, an airplane with three engines, manufactured from 1991 to 2000, with a total of 200 aircraft being delivered. Although the aircrafts were not ideal to be operated by many passenger airlines, MD-11 had a great success as freighters thanks to their large cargo capacity, long range, and lower purchase cost on the used market that allowed cargo airlines to purchase them. Many cargo airlines, including UPS, FedEx, and Western Global have purchased many passenger aircrafts and converted them into freighters.
Picture of how the crash happened
Source: LA Times
The UPS cargo jet that crashed shortly after taking off, causing a tragic accident, was identified to be 34 years old by the National Transportation Safety Board(NTSB). Even though the main cause remains under investigation, people have raised voices of their concerns with the longevity of airplanes, which might be understood as one of the causes for some people.
A picture of the airplane taken before the crash
Source: Flightaware
Did it directly lead to the crash? The answer remains unknown – since the official cause remains unknown, too. However, many experts do not believe that age actually caused the crash. Mike Boyd, an aviation consultant, had mentioned that it wouldn’t be a reason for this accident, saying that most US carriers, like Delta, United, Southwest, and more, have numbers of aircrafts with an average age of 20 to 30 years. He also mentioned that US carriers take the maintenance seriously and retire their aircraft based on maintenance costs and fuel burning, meaning they wouldn’t operate the aircraft if their condition went excessively bad.
As most of the planes have long lifespans with the airlines having enough attention on their aircrafts’ health, and as cargo jets fly lesser compared to passenger planes, age may not be the main reason that led to the crash of the UPS cargo jet. Rather, other factors which will be revealed after the investigation of the NTSB that can take from 12 to 24 months.
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