FAA records show the plane had cracks and corrosion in its main structure and a fuel tank. The plane completed 28 flights between maintenance and the crash.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Newly-obtained FAA records confirm the MD-11 UPS jet that crashed in Louisville Tuesday had “major maintenance” completed months earlier.
While the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) continues to investigate the cause of the crash, records show the plane had a crack in part of its top fuselage and corrosion in part of its lower fuselage.
FlightAware, a airplane tracking software owned by Collins Aerospace, shows the plane sat in San Antonio, Texas, for over six weeks from Sept. 3 to Oct. 18.
WHAS11 reported Wednesday that the plane was “grounded,” however the report should have said the plane “was on the ground” or not flying during that time.
“The one that requires a permanent repair requires an FAA form 337, which is titled ‘major alteration or repair,'” Ladd Sanger said.
Sanger, an aviation lawyer of nearly 30 years, worked on the explosion of a Concorde passenger jet from Paris to New York in July 2000, which killed 113 people.
Records from the FAA’s Service Difficulty reporting System (SDRS) show three different forms were filed on this UPS jet, tail number N259UP, between Sept. 4 and Oct. 1. Sanger said the SDRS is technically a “voluntary data base” where anyone can submit a report.
“There’s no vetting of what they report, however, it is useful to us in litigation,” he explained. “The manufacturers are supposed to monitor the SDR database as part of their continued operation safety programs…I think that they are fairly reliable.”
There is indication that UPS may have filed each of these three reports since the person who filled out the forms said they were a “carrier.”
The report’s “submitter designator” is also marked “IPXA.” WHAS11 learned that UPS was identified as “IPXA” in an FAA document from 2007.
Issues with the plane’s parts
All three reports said there was an issue in the “fuselage, main, longeron, stringer” parts of the plane. Longerons are metal rods that run from the nose of the plane to the tail. Stringers are smaller rods running with the longerons that help create the main interior body of the plane.
One of the reports said the “center wing upper fuel tank” had a crack in it. The other two show corrosion in the center cargo bilge area of the plane.
UPS has not responded to WHAS11’s questions about the work done in San Antonio.
Records show the plane completed 28 successful flights between the date it left San Antonio and Tuesday, Nov. 4, including two flights the same day of the crash.
“The work that we’re seeing here, corrosion, cracks. If they’re present in the main structure of the airplane, it would be reasonable to assume that there could be some in the wings, because the wings flex,” Sanger said.
During a Thursday afternoon news conference, Todd Inman with the NTSB said investigators are aware of the San Antonio maintenance and it will be part of their investigation.
“We are aware that this aircraft was there in San Antonio. We have actually started to pull those records down. We have a specific group that is –that has experts in not only maintenance, but repair job cards,” Inman said.
Sanger said there is no indication there was any engine maintenance done in San Antonio.