zlacker

(asked earnestly out of lack of familiarity with this field) Are maintenance/certification standards distinct between passenger and cargo carriers?

It's hard for me to tell if this suggests a step backwards in application of the reforms instigated after AA191 or that those reforms were never copied over to cargo aviation.

>>akerl_+(OP)
Yes but mostly related to purpose specific things: passenger carriers have additional safety checks for cabin things like seats, oxygen and evacuation systems. Cargo carriers have additional safety checks for things like cargo restraint and decompression systems.

Furthermore (and I don't know if this is related to the cause of this crash), cargo jets tend to be older/refurbished passenger planes that have outlived their useful lives flying passengers.

>>noer+q5
> cargo jets tend to be older/refurbished passenger planes that have outlived their useful lives flying passengers.

Exactly what happened in this case; the airplane was built in 1991 to carry passengers, and then converted in 2006 for freight.

https://www.planespotters.net/airframe/mcdonnell-douglas-md-...