Bradley M. Cosgrove, partner at Clifford Law Offices in Chicago, who filed the first wrongful death lawsuits in Kentucky regarding the November 2025 crash of a UPS cargo jet, is in attendance on the first day of National Transportation Safety Board hearings alongside some of his clients. “The NTSB’s Preliminary Report and early hours of its Public Hearing show that Boeing, UPS, and ST Aerospace (aircraft maintenance provider for UPS) MD-11 engine pylon structural safety analyses and inspection and maintenance processes were clearly incorrect, unsafe, and insufficient to prevent this accident,” he said.
Cosgrove, who heads the team of aviation lawyers, pilots, and technical experts at the firm on this crash, continued, “The remainder of this Public Hearing and NTSB investigation and reporting process will hopefully produce thorough documentation of the Boeing, UPS, ST Aerospace, FAA, and other organizational failures that led to this crash. Clifford Law Offices will continue its own investigation and make sure those responsible for this crash are held accountable.”
The morning of May 19, 2026, the NTSB released 6,000 pages of documents on this November 4, 2025, crash, and “Clifford Law Offices is already in the process of reviewing this complex and highly specialized information with its experts as part of the firm’s own investigation to ensure that the truth is uncovered,” Cosgrove said.
During the Tuesday hearing, the NTSB is calling numerous witnesses, including representatives from UPS, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and Boeing, which manufactured the MD-11F cargo jet that crashed into a recycling area near the airport, killing 15 people and injuring 23 more on the ground.
Clifford Law Offices, an internationally recognized aviation firm based in Chicago, represents seven of the victims’ families who lost loved ones in the crash, as well as several other people who were severely injured in the inferno when the Boeing jet loaded with fuel crashed heading to Hawaii.
The families of several victims who were injured or killed in the crash of a UPS cargo jet shortly after takeoff from Louisville, Kentucky, are in attendance at the NTSB hearing in Washington, D.C., along with dozens of others attending, and are sitting through the day-long hearing that will continue tomorrow. Many are choosing to stay in a private room set aside for the grieving families, so they are not seated in a public area.
NTSB’s preliminary report, issued about a month after the crash, revealed that the aircraft’s left engine and pylon separated from the wing during rotation and takeoff. In its initial fact gathering, the NTSB found mechanical problems involving fatigue fractures with the aircraft’s left pylon. NTSB investigators noted parallels today to the 1979 American Airlines Flight 191 crash at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, where the engine and pylon also detached from a similar aircraft (the DC-10) upon takeoff rotation.
UPS Flight 2976 crashed on November 4, 2025, at about 5:15 p.m. EST shortly after it took off from Muhammad Ali International Airport in Louisville.
The first day of the hearing dealt with “Fleet Safety Processes,” during which technical experts were questioned by the NTSB Board about maintenance issues, quality assurance, and communication processes. Day 2 is anew panel expected to delve into “Pylon Design Requirements.”
The agenda released by the NTSB is being streamed live and can be accessed here.
The hearings, part of the NTSB’s ongoing investigation, will resume at 8 a.m. EST Wednesday, May 20, at the NTSB boardroom, 490 L’Enfant Plaza SW in the nation’s capital.
For further information, contact Clifford Law Offices Communications Partner Pamela Sakowicz Menaker at 847-721-0909 (cell) or Pammenaker@cliffordlaw.com