Posted on 01/14/2026 2:30:35 PM PST by CondoleezzaProtege
The federal investigation into last year's fatal UPS plane crash in Louisville showed one of the key defects found on the plane's failed engine was a known issue among Boeing's service team, albeit one Boeing didn't believe would lead to a "safety of flight condition."
In an update to its ongoing investigation into the crash of UPS Flight 2976, the National Transportation Safety Board said its team found fatigue cracking and overstress failure across much of the bearing race inside the area that attached the plane's left engine to its wing.
NTSB investigators then went back into Boeing service data and confirmed the design of the bearing assembly was consistent with the original design of that part. However, a Boeing Service Letter dated Feb. 7, 2011, told operators the company was aware of four previous bearing race failures on three different airplanes. Boeing had seen the fractures of the bearing race, with the parts splitting in two and moving out of place.
(Excerpt) Read more at wdrb.com ...
This article’s headline is a little misleading. OF COURSE the engineering group knew of the defects: a bulletin had been sent out to operators. The fix just was not nearly sufficient enough to address the extent of the problem.
In some plants they were directed not to use the internal messaging apps because they would flag any safety issues and bring the production line to a halt or slow it down.
The goal was to cash in bonuses and options before planes started crashing.
These execs and managers need to be found and prosecuted, because once this kind of rot is deliberately institutionalized, it infects most of management and its very difficult to fix.
UPS aircraft employees knew this, then.
CAN GET SUED INTO OBLIVION
Well you could watch Mayday Air Disasters on Quest and watch the Chicago plane crash and know exactly what happened.
Or wait for the FAA to spend a few million and find out in a year or so.
I rented a terrific little house on a fenced acre for 15 years on Bainbridge Island, directly across Puget Sound from Seattle. Owner was an autistic man who fixed everything the minute it needed fixing Old house and I paid for materials to make it nice, he did the work on new flooring, etc.
He worked as a draftsman for Boeing. Should have been the manager because he was far more honest and hardworking than the idiots who run Boeing now.
(Hats oiff to you, Charles)
“Boeing had seen the fractures of the bearing race, with the parts splitting in two and moving out of place.” Not good on a flying machine.
They notified the maintainers of this possible issue. Maintenance was the failure point.
As a former aircraft mechanic/crew chief it is a known fact that parts fatigue. If the manufacture lets you know these common points of fatigue it is up to the maintainer to monitor. Nothing is perfect and stuff wears out. Do your job properly and the failure risk is acceptable.
Boeing knew of defect.
AND they also knew of GRAVITY!
This is what happens when bean counters, and not engineers run a company.
Myself and many others left Boeing( I’m a 21 year employee) when the Bean counters took over. I would not sign off on their BS!
I was in experimental Flight test, the group that certifies ALL new Boeing aircraft.
Thank you for sharing and for your service! Boeing was an incredible company, hopefully its former honor can be restored...
Mostly. It depends on whether the replacement parts are sourced from the manufacturer. If the manufacturer knows the maintainers aren't ordering sufficient replacement parts based on known mean times between failure, they're obligated to flag it.
If it’s Boeing, it ain’t going ...
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