LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — 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…