UPS MD-11 crash at SDF

From what I've heard, there was a service letter (not sure that's the proper name) that Fedex complied with that UPS didn't comply with due to cost or they just didn't think it was important. UPS tends to not do things unless the FAA mandates it (think part 117 or that UPS kept flying the jet for days after this crash until the FAA grounded the fleet). Fedex had an improved gizmo installed that wasn't mandated by the FAA, it was just a suggestion from Boeing. My understanding was that it wasn't strongly pushed by Boeing, either. If you own a small plane, part 91, do you just do the AD's or do you do service letters, too? Of course, airlines are held to a higher standard than my Cherokee, but I must admit that I don't follow service letters.
 
mikecweb said:
FedEx is going to hold an internal Town Hall next week to share details of the repairs that have/will be made. If any of that is public available information I'm sure it will be shared. The MD11 crew force is going through a unique refresher training to bring pilots back, there is a May bidpack with flying. The only thing missing would be the FAA signoff but it appears the corporation is ready to go when that gets released.
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Which all of this makes rational sense. It just seems odd that nothing has been put out from the FAA regarding a pending return to service, and what has been mandated and complied with by, in this case, FedEx. Or even with other MD and DC-10 operators, few that there are.
 
MikeD said:
Which all of this makes rational sense. It just seems odd that nothing has been put out from the FAA regarding a pending return to service, and what has been mandated and complied with by, in this case, FedEx. Or even with other MD and DC-10 operators, few that there are.
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I'd imagine if there were a couple hundred airplanes grounded there would be some interest from the general public. We're talking about less than 50 airframes that will return.
 
mikecweb said:
I'd imagine if there were a couple hundred airplanes grounded there would be some interest from the general public. We're talking about less than 50 airframes that will return.
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True, but in light of the very high profile accident that precipitated this whole thing, and the unfortunate toll it took on the uninvolved general public along with the involved flight crew, one would think there would be more public interest than usual even for a small fleet size; as well as the Feds getting ahead of any public questions that would arise. Had this been based on a remote accident someplace that only the aircrew were fatal, I could see the general lack of public interest.
 
DE727UPS said:
From what I've heard, there was a service letter (not sure that's the proper name) that Fedex complied with that UPS didn't comply with due to cost or they just didn't think it was important. UPS tends to not do things unless the FAA mandates it (think part 117 or that UPS kept flying the jet for days after this crash until the FAA grounded the fleet). Fedex had an improved gizmo installed that wasn't mandated by the FAA, it was just a suggestion from Boeing. My understanding was that it wasn't strongly pushed by Boeing, either. If you own a small plane, part 91, do you just do the AD's or do you do service letters, too? Of course, airlines are held to a higher standard than my Cherokee, but I must admit that I don't follow service letters.
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I’ve heard the same saying from two friends: “FedEx is an airline that runs trucks, UPS is a bunch of truckers running an airline.” One of my friends flies (flew?) purple MD-11s, the other didn’t make it through a training contract at a UPS feeder.
 
pwttogfk said:
I’ve heard the same saying from two friends: “FedEx is an airline that runs trucks, UPS is a bunch of truckers running an airline.” One of my friends flies (flew?) purple MD-11s, the other didn’t make it through a training contract at a UPS feeder.
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There's a bunch of truth in that. FedEx started with airplanes, UPS started with trucks. But UPS trucks and UPS airplanes are two separate companies under one big company umbrella. I forget which is which but one is UPSCo and the other is UPSinc or something like that.
 
MikeD said:
True, but in light of the very high profile accident that precipitated this whole thing, and the unfortunate toll it took on the uninvolved general public along with the involved flight crew, one would think there would be more public interest than usual even for a small fleet size; as well as the Feds getting ahead of any public questions that would arise. Had this been based on a remote accident someplace that only the aircrew were fatal, I could see the general lack of public interest.
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Did it even make front page after a day? 97% of people I talk to that ask why I have a beard have no clue about this accident. Outside aviation circles basically no one knows. Ask the general public about 737 Max's
 
mikecweb said:
Did it even make front page after a day? 97% of people I talk to that ask why I have a beard have no clue about this accident. Outside aviation circles basically no one knows. Ask the general public about 737 Max's
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I've decided I'm just not even going to try to explain anything related to this job to anyone. There's just too many pieces for the average person to really have any idea how this job actually works.
 
DE727UPS said:
From what I've heard, there was a service letter (not sure that's the proper name) that Fedex complied with that UPS didn't comply with due to cost or they just didn't think it was important. UPS tends to not do things unless the FAA mandates it (think part 117 or that UPS kept flying the jet for days after this crash until the FAA grounded the fleet). Fedex had an improved gizmo installed that wasn't mandated by the FAA, it was just a suggestion from Boeing. My understanding was that it wasn't strongly pushed by Boeing, either. If you own a small plane, part 91, do you just do the AD's or do you do service letters, too? Of course, airlines are held to a higher standard than my Cherokee, but I must admit that I don't follow service letters.
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I thought I’d get over this but this will always be a bad taste in my mouth. I like how leadership said they were grounded out of an “abundance of caution”, yet they’re parked from CAE to HNL and in between with ridiculous amounts of ramp fees probably being charged daily. If they were grounded out of an abundance of caution this place would’ve tried to get as many back to SDF as possible. Ramp 9 would look like a MD-11 boneyard.
 
pwttogfk said:
I’ve heard the same saying from two friends: “FedEx is an airline that runs trucks, UPS is a bunch of truckers running an airline.” One of my friends flies (flew?) purple MD-11s, the other didn’t make it through a training contract at a UPS feeder.
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Ask about the fairly recent MD-11 lav story. It’s not as bad as some of the stories @DE727UPS has from the old days but they act like we’re not an airline sometimes.
 
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