The bracket meant to hold the left engine in place on a Honolulu-bound UPS cargo plane that crashed in Louisville, Kentucky, this month had cracked in two places before the crash, according to a preliminary report issued today by the National Transportation Safety Board.

Parts of the pylon, the mount that attaches a jet engine to the aircraft’s wing, showed signs of fatigue cracks in other places as well, besides the two fractures in parts that were recovered from the crash site, the report said.

The plane, a McDonnell Douglas MD-11 jet, was taking off from Louisville late on the afternoon of Nov. 4 when it crashed moments after becoming airborne, killing the three crew members and 11 people on the ground.

The left engine detached from the wing as the plane hurtled down the runway to ta

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