The UPS cargo plane that crashed in Kentucky this week, killing at least 12 people including a child, was more than three decades old and had been grounded for repairs a little more than a month before the crash.
The MD-11 plane had just been repaired for a critical fuel tank issue in September and was grounded from September 3 through at least October 18, according to flight records obtained by the Wall Street Journal.
At least 12 people were killed as a result of the crash, including three on board the plane and a parent and child at a salvage yard near the airport. An investigation into the cause of the crash is underway.
The accident occurred Tuesday when one of the plane's engines detached from its left wing during takeoff, National Transportation Safety Board officials said in a press statement on Wednesday. They noted that the engine was located on the ground at the airport.
Investigators have also found the black box voice recorders in the wreckage and will be transporting them back to Washington, D.C. for analysis.
Shocking video showed the cargo plane flying very low and very tilted to one side before it makes contact with the ground and explodes into a massive fireball.
A fire reportedly began in the left wing just before it crashed. Investigators are working to determine what caused the blaze.
Satellite photos of the crash site taken by the Vantor data intelligence company show the plane left a long, black scar and debris trail along the ground.
The photos also show the spot where the plane tore through the top of a UPS warehouse, leaving a 300-foot-long cut in the facility.
On Tuesday, UPS issued a statement saying it was working with the National Transportation Safety Board and the FAA on their investigation and that it was stopping operations at the Louisville Worldport package hub.
The Louisville facility is the company's largest, employing more than 20,000 people in the region. It handles 300 flights per day, and sorts more than 400,000 packages an hour.
The MD-11 that crashed was built in 1991 by McDonnell Douglas — which is now owned by Boeing — and was bought and converted into a cargo jet by UPS in 2006, according to aviation records.
MD-11s are largely operated as cargo jets. They have the second-worst safety record of any commercial aircraft currently in service, according to a Boeing-compiled report on industry safety data from April.
There hasn't been a fatal incident involving an MD-11 since 2009.
Many still-operating passenger planes that fall out of use find new life as cargo planes. Once a passenger jet has been in use for approximately 20 to 30 years, they're often sold to companies operating cargo jets, where — with regular maintenance — they can continue to fly for years.
UPS operates approximately 29 MD-11 jets among its fleet of approximately 291 owned aircraft, according to the WSJ. It already retired two of its planes in the second quarter of the year, and was planning to retire one more, according to an October securities filing.
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