Rule #1 Fly by handTo help crews get used to the MD-11's handling eccentricities, Delta took the unusual step of urging pilots to fly MD-11s manually from takeoff all the way to cruising altitude, instead of making a quick switch to autopilot.Rule #2 Go AroundReal World'Just Quit Flying' Veteran FedEx captain Jack Burke, who once walked away from an MD-11 tail strike, has described his caution about flying the plane. "The first 100 feet and the last 100 feet are where the crew really has to sweat it," he says. If the descent isn't exactly right, Capt. Burke adds, he will abort the landing, because "the plane can just quit flying on you. There is simply no time to recover."FSX WorldI flipped the MD-11 over and crashed while landing with a tailwind even though tailwind landings are almost non existent in real world civillian aviation. If I in the 747-400 I would have landed with no problem. If I was in the 747-800 I would have looked really cool and landed with no problem.Here are a few links to the real world issues with the MD-11.http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/forbidding.htmlhttp://www.airlinesafety.com/faq/faq9.htmMichael Davis

I flipped the MD-11 over and crashed while landing with a tailwind even though tailwind landings are almost non existent in real world civillian aviation.I can't speak for the military guys, but us civil guys do tailwind landings all the time.I agree with the rest of your post though. It does a lot of good when you fly the plane.Paul

Hi Michael!

Rule #1 Fly by handTo help crews get used to the MD-11's handling eccentricities, Delta took the unusual step of urging pilots to fly MD-11s manually from takeoff all the way to cruising altitude, instead of making a quick switch to autopilot.

By coincidence, I have just been reading an article in the current edition of PC Pilot (a UK magazine

I still think the whole MD11 issue is overrated, to put it into perspective think about how many FEDEX & UPS MD11 aircraft are taking off and landing every hour every day all year without incident in all weather conditions around the planet. The real machine has it's quirks but that's why SOP's have special techniques to get round this eg positive lowering of the nose on touchdown and A/T off in gusty conditions on approach. Last night flying in real weather on Vatsim, for the first time I had the opportunity to land the MD11 at it's Max crosswind limit with gusts and heavy turbulence into LFPG 27L (Aircraft was too heavy for 26R) Of course in the sim it was a non event but considering LFPG is big real world FEDEX hub I could imagine quite a few MD11 & MD10's made it in with the same weather without scratching paint.All the FEDEX crash reports are available on the net (Except Tokyo) Makes very interesting reading.Regards

Regarding tailwind landings - they are conducted but there's legal limits on the wind speed (10 knots I believe for the MD-11). A tailwind increases your groundspeed at touchdown, which can lead to tireblowouts, brake overheats etc...

Regarding hand flying, some of my best flying memories are when I had to hand fly; one night for 1.5 hrs solid IFR without otto and another evening that was VFR but the DG was out and flew home on mag compass. That was great fun.