The cause of the deadly Nov. 4 crash of a UPS cargo airplane in Louisville, Kentucky, still has not been confirmed, but some aviation experts have pointed to the fact that the plane was over three decades old. However, while passenger planes are constantly being updated with new iterations from Boeing and Airbus, it turns out that using an antiquated plane isn’t all that rare for cargo aviation — even as UPS has now grounded the model in question.

Jet built in 1991

The jet that crashed was a McDonnell Douglas MD-11F that was manufactured in 1991, according to the Aviation Safety Network . This model has been a “workhorse in the cargo industry for years, but it had gained a reputation as an aircraft that was behind the times,” said USA Today . The MD-11 started as a passenger jet, b

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