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David Evans Former Qantas captain November 6, 2025 — 6.23pm

When an aircraft crashes as tragically and spectacularly as UPS 2976 did on take-off from Louisville, Kentucky, it’s normal to search for the cause as soon as possible. And while it’s irresponsible to speculate, what we know for certain is that the 34-year-old MD11 was bound for Honolulu, a distance of just over 7000 kilometres and a flight time of around nine hours, so the aircraft would have had a heavy fuel load.

The McDonnell Douglas MD11 is the last iteration of the Douglas DC10, which entered service as a passenger aircraft back in the 1970s. Although no longer in production, the DC10/MD11 family of aircraft has had a chequered career in both airline passenger service and ai

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