The Federal Aviation Administration has cleared Boeing’s plan to address safety concerns for the MD-11 cargo jet, allowing FedEx to bring the aircraft type back into service after it had been grounded following a deadly crash outside Louisville, Kentucky. FedEx resumed flying the planes on Sunday, according to the AP.
The approval follows Boeing’s development of corrective actions for the MD-11 fleet that FedEx and other cargo operators used for hauling packages. The FAA said it approved Boeing’s proposed fix “after extensive review,” and FedEx said it worked with Boeing, the FAA and its own experts to inspect and repair its planes before the government certified that FedEx had complied with Boeing’s recommendations.
The crash that led to the grounding occurred in November 2025 shortly after takeoff from near Muhammad Ali International Airport. The AP reported that the left engine fell off the wing as the UPS plane rolled down the runway, and that the crash killed three pilots on a flight headed to Hawaii as well as 12 people on the ground.
Boeing’s corrective plan focuses on how the MD-11 engines attach to the wings. The AP said Boeing planned to replace a key spherical bearing and increase inspections of the parts that hold the engines to the wings. The National Transportation Safety Board has said that in 2011 Boeing documented four previous failures of the bearing part on three different planes but at that time “determined it would not result in a safety of flight condition,” noting that the MD-11s were built by McDonnell Douglas, later acquired by Boeing.
In the aftermath of the crash, the FAA grounded all MD-11s because of concerns about whether the aircraft were safe. The AP reported that UPS later retired its entire MD-11 fleet, which made up about 9% of its total fleet, while FedEx remained committed to returning the planes to service.
FedEx said it owns 46 of the MD-11 aircraft, and that it had been storing more than two dozen additional planes even before the crash. FedEx also said the company’s “Safety is our highest priority at FedEx,” as it described its work to bring the jets back under FAA oversight.
Some legal representatives of families of victims said they hope the FAA ensured the fix is sufficient before the planes returned to flight. Bradley Cosgrove, an aviation lawyer representing some families suing over the Louisville crash, told the AP: “We hope the FAA does a thorough job of investigating the fixes before the MD-11 fleet is allowed to return to flight.”
Aviation safety expert Jeff Guzzetti said he was surprised it took as long as it did for the MD-11s to return to the air, given how quickly the NTSB identified concerns that likely contributed to an engine detaching. Guzzetti, who previously investigated crashes for both the NTSB and the FAA, said: “I’m confident that the solution will work, and I would like to see the MD-11s back up in the air. It will be a safe airplane with regards to its engines after these corrective actions are made.”
The NTSB is planning two days of investigative hearings next week into what happened in the UPS crash, the AP reported.