US regulators have ordered Boeing MD-11F operators to ground the aircraft in the wake of the UPS freighter crash at Louisville.
The FAA has issued an emergency directive which “prohibits further flight” until the aircraft are inspected and any necessary corrective actions are carried out.
It has taken the action after a UPS MD-11F shed its left-hand GE Aerospace CF6 engine and pylon during its take-off roll on 4 November.
“The cause of the detachment is currently under investigation,” says the directive, which has been issued under the component code for pylons and nacelles.
While the cause has not been determined, the directive nevertheless states that the unsafe condition is “likely to exist or develop in other products of the same type design”.
The FAA’s measure follows Boeing’s recommendation to the three operators of MD-11Fs in particular that they suspend flight operations with the type, as a precautionary step, pending safety assessment.
US operators UPS, FedEx and Western Global Airlines all retain an active MD-11F fleet, with a total of some 60 aircraft.
The fleets include both GE Aerospace CF6- and Pratt & Whitney PW4000-powered trijets.
Earlier this year FedEx disclosed that it planned to retain MD-11Fs in its fleet to 2032, after opting to push back their retirement by four years.
Boeing says safety is the airframer’s “top priority” and is recommending the suspension while “additional engineering analysis” is conducted.
It has not elaborated on the nature of the analysis or the timeframe.
Bound for Honolulu, the UPS aircraft, departing Louisville’s runway 17R, briefly became airborne without the lost engine but came down in an industrial area a few seconds later.
While the FAA emergency directive also applies to the passenger version of the MD-11, the type was withdrawn from passenger service more than a decade ago. KLM was the last operator of MD-11s and halted flights in late 2014.
