Shocking New NTSB Update on UPS 2976 MD-11F Crash

I was an aircraft inspector for a major airline from 1984 to 2020. We had DC-10-10's and -30's. We were doing Pylon inspections on every C check and I new about these bearings. We always payed very close attention to these fittings and the forward fitting we called "Tombstone fitting" because it looked like a tombstone. At the time, these aircraft were on average around 15 years old! We did intensified visual inspections, eddy current, and ultrasound on and around these mount fittings. I found only once, a rear bearing race was fractured. The engine and pylon was removed to replace the bearing and additional inspections were then accomplished on the rest of the pylon. I have seen personally how procedures can change as upper management changes through the years. The old retire, the new come in and they have different ideas on how to save money on maintenance. That is all I am going to say.

Inspection every... five years? Regardless of cycles...? Good god... Thanks again Juan and regards.

0:18 - "I know you have a lot of choices for speculative sensationalist aviation content". 🤣🤣 Love your sense of humor, Juan!

Reminds me of the Acme jack screw on Alaska 261; cutting corners on maintenance costs lives.

I was a crew chief on USAF C-130's back in the '70's. I really appreciate your content.

We are so lucky to have a person who is not only a wide body commercial airline pilot but also an avid private pilot with an aircraft mechanics certification to get our information from.

Insanity! As an engineer I have specified similar bearings many times. Bearings are wear items and need to be kept lubricated and inspected. I can’t believe these bearings were allowed to get like this. First they would have probably lost lubrication then wore enough that the inner race was hammering on the outer such that eventually the outer race split and spread, allowing even more movement, which then hammered so hard and long that it fatigue cracked the bearing supports, which kept going till they broke. It’s classic.

Juan, I watch you specifically because you're not sensationalist.

I have no real aviation experience or expertise but i find your delivery of information exceptional. My 24 year old son is in aviation school in South Dakota and i share your videos with him. He in turn has conversations with his instructors based on what he sees/learns from your videos.

N110AA (AA191) lost its left engine in a similar fashion on takeoff from Chicago. Even though engines 2 and 3 were still at full takeoff power, the plane crashed due to a stall resulting from hydraulic system failures as a result of engine 1 and its pylon detaching.

I come here for the dry technical spot on readback. Keep up the good work, JB.

9:24 "Thank you for bearing with me ..." Juan experiments with puns.

Having spent 35 working on aircraft (military and civilian, large and small). if I'd seen a piece of spherical bearing poking out (where is shouldn't be), I'd be heading straight for the maintenance manuals to see what they said. (I'd also look at a new bearing (if available) for comparison). I would then write it up in the maintenance paperwork, (US the aircraft). This then becomes everybody's responsibility to fully investigate the issue and ensure the aircraft is safe to fly. I did this once, and was sacked!

I work with heavy equipment and tractors, and we use spherical bearings and pins a lot too. I see many failures (especially in excavators) where the races and pins break along their grease channels. It appears the "notch" in the outer race of this mount aligns with the grease passage in the ball and bolt, presumably to allow lubricant to flow and spread out. The edges make for terrible stress riser locations and anytime I experience a broken pin its always at the grease channel. I always replace drilled, lube-able pins with solid pins and move the zerk to the stationary outer housing, eliminating the failure point. Obviously, the 3-piece setup here with a spherical section is a bit more complex but the principals are the same.

You don't know how Boeing came to that conclusion? Remember when "Boeing relied on single sensor for 737 Max that had been flagged 216 times to FAA"?