11 of the people killed were at Grade A Auto Parts. Three were employees and eight were customers.
Employees - Megan Washburn, 35, John “John Boy” Loucks, 52, and Trinadette “Trina” Chavez, 37
Customers - Angela Anderson, 45; Carlos Fernandez, 52; Tony Crain, 65; John Spray, 45; Matthew Sweets, 37; Ella Petty Whorton, 31; Louisnes Fedon, 47; and his 3-year-old granddaughter Kimberly Asa
Then there was the crew.
Capt. Richard Wartenberg, 57; First Officer Lee Truitt, 45; and International Relief Officer Capt. Dana Diamond, 62
Anyone else see the new footage released today by the NTSB? Engine just falls off, upwards, and to the back, taking out engine #3 as many had suspected.
They report serious stress cracks in the mount. Stuff like this shouldn’t be happening in 2025.
As a SES and SEL (Single Engine Sea and Land) Pilot it got me thinking. Other than demo flights, all my time is in aircraft with one engine. If you only have one engine, at least if it breaks off it will not get sucked into another.
Than again, I can’t fly to HI.
Peace to all the families of the Crew and those on the ground.
A new update from the NTSB about the problem bearing –
“Now, a new report shows that in 2011, a Boeing service letter described four previous failures of a part that helps secure the MD-11’s engines to the wings on three different planes.”
This is pretty shocking to read and even more shocking that the part wasn’t replaced with a redesigned part on every plane in service immediately when this was found. I’m no Jet expert, but this seems like a relatively simple thing to do.
Nope, because every downstream and upstream engineering part has to be re evaluated for loads and other engineering mumbo jumbo. I had the opportunity to fly with engineers from MCD/Boeing back in the early 2000’s at Edwards AFB and they said there is no updating a single component its all a systems thing.
What they (Boeing) could have done is simply decrease the time between inspections or required pylon maintenance.
