So we all know about the MD-11F that crashed in Louisville. But what happened?
You see before we get into my theory you have to understand how older designs for engines worked.
Back when the MD-11 was made there was growing controversy and concern about the threat of a detaching engine hitting the wing and damaging it. They invented the “Engine Pylon” it’s the part that connects the engine to the wing. It serves for alot of purposes but on of the key purposes is to let an engine detach smoothly if under huge stress. This stress buildup is shown with bolts. Now here is where our theory starts.
This specific MD-11 was 34 years old first being deliverd to Thai Airways on July 15th, 1991. with a passenger configuration with the registration HS-TIME being named “Pathum Wan”. It was delivered to UPS on June 15th, 2006 given it’s current registration of N259UP and getting a cargo configuration. It doesn’t have any listed major checkups what is interesting. It must’ve had a recent check up with maintenance. This maintenance check might’ve avoided the engine pylon. 4th of November, 2025. N259UP is getting ready at Stand 5 in SDF. The crew is getting ready for a long flight all the way to Honolulu what is 8 hours. At 17:11 PM local time it would line up with runway 17R. It started accelarating down runway 17R at 17:13 PM local time. Now you have to take everything from this point on with a big grain of salt as I could be completely wrong. Just after reaching the V1 speed what was assumed to be ~153 knots, the pylon of the left hand engine failed but didn’t shave off clean. It ripped itself off violently shaking the entire aircraft ripping open an inboard wing fuel tank and possibly ripping off the left inboard flaps causing fuel to gush out of the left wing and igniting into flames. The wing was on fire and there was no way to stop it. This would have created intense vibrations causing air to weirdly enter the right hand engine causing a compressor stall in the right hand engine. At this point the nose was raised and the tail mounted engine was at the max power it could be at climbing to 175 feet max skimming trees. During this entire ordeal the aircraft was shaking violently and the left wing was legit in flames. The left hand wing would have started tearing itself apart decreasing the erea of lift the left wing could produce decreasing the lift the aircraft could generate making the right hand wing create more lift than the left causing the aircraft to bank left while the nose started dropping due to decreasing generation in lift from the left wing. The aircraft would hit the ground at 17:15 PM Local time killing all 3 crew and 9 people on the ground and hospitalizing 15 people. Now let’s touch upon the likely ripped off left inboard flaps that the engine most probably took with it. All the flaps on the aircraft were in takeoff position so there was even more lift imbalance. It is still being investigated so take my whole theory with a big grain of salt tho for now this may be the best explanation for what happened. This situation was truly in every sense of the word, hopeless.
It’s the best explanation I could think of as a certified pilot for the Diamond DA-40 :3 as like an instructor at the KLM Flight Academy aswell. I know my stuff. It kind of reminds me of a similiar engine pylon failure I’ve heard about. The tragic story of Air Canada 621.
The vibrations make sense, so I would say that is a valid reason.
So, I just want to say the FBI and several other agencies are deeply involved in this for a certain reason. This happened before, but more people died.
In 1979, a DC-10 took off (AA 191) and lost it’s engine. It did the same thing, except it made it higher, rotated 90 degrees, and hit the ground, killing approx 270 or so people. If it is the same thing, it could be poor maintenance causing the pylon to fail. But if it’s not, well, that’s probably one of the reasons the FBI is involved.
The Dc-10/MD-11 was a revolutionary plane. It can fly on one engine, but anything else (like in this case, 2 engines gone, or in AA191’s case, loss of controls) will end in disaster, like the Titanic.
At this point, I’m hoping for 2 things: 1, it was poor maintenance, and 2, that no one else dies.
What’s even more interesting (for lack of a better word) is that in both cases, it was the left engine. Coincidence? Or was the left pylon more prone to failing? Or something else?
Actually the 2 accidents have nothing to do with eachother :). Tho we should also account for the fact the left hand engine on this MD-11F probably hit the left inboard flaps meaning there was even more lift imbalance than mentioned by me. This was in all sense of the word hopeless.
Well there might be key hydraulic lines running through there tho with the first produced MD-11 there was actually concern about the wing fuel tanks being “to close” to the engine for safety standards even at that time. Tho I have no exact idea on this I could look at an MD-11F chart.
Alsoo the DC-10 and MD-11 may seem like they are basically the same I promise you there is a HUGE difference including the first ever inflight entertainment systems which ended up being a bad idea as shadowed by the tragedy of Swiss Airlines flight 111.
This is true. The MD-11’s fuel tank layout have #1 fuel tanks on the outside of the pylons, but according to the photos of the incident it struck the #2 fuel tank on the starboard wing.
The plyon might have come loose somehow, and then the lift of the wing (or just momentum) pulled it upwards, punctured the #2 fuel tank, and the exhaust gases ignite the fuel in the wing, which spreads to the engine, and spreads throughout the wing structure spreading to the #1 and the center wing tanks. So this might actually be true. You might be a genius.
Starboard pylon rips off, creating a rough edge and sending shrapnel over the runway.
Starboard pylon punctures the leading edge of the wing into the #2 inboard wing tank, with the exhaust of the engine igniting it.
Differential thrust starts making the aircraft pivot left on the yaw axis. Hydrolic systems on the starboard wing fail, making the starboard alieron fail, and thus touque created by the movement on the yaw axis rolls the aircraft towards the left.
Fire from the #2 fuel tanks spreads to the #1 outboard tanks, weakening the starboard wing. If you look at the photo closely, it looks like the starboard wing is bending, which could be one of the possible reasons for the loss of control. Port engine injests debris from the separation, causing a compressor stall.
Fire spreads to the center wing tank, and the differential thrust is more than the roll enforced by the torque, sending the plane into a skid. The aircraft then thus has small amounts of lift created by the fire on the wing (because heat rises), thus cancelling out the roll caused by torque. It then, loosing airspeed rapidly due to both engines becoming inoperable, leaving only the tail engine, starts to stall.
Soooo I can’t give to much detail on this as of that I’m literally not allowed to. But fatigue cracks were found in the engine pylon and in it’s last C-check something was replaced incorrectly tho this was noted hy the crew of the flight after and it was reportedly “fixed” as files say.
