Hi guys,I am currently on a position flight from London Stansted to Budapest ad cruising at FL410.For some strange reason the nose goes up and down contantly without loosing altitude.I left Stansted with 22.100 kgs. fuel, payload of 2500 loaded in the front on maindeck. My CG are within limits (Topcat).Normally when I fly around loaded I don

Try to manually change the trim of the airplane.

Try to manually change the trim of the airplane.

That's not going to work. Peter I have never experienced your problem however at very light loads on short hops I always carry Ballast fuel.Regards

Interesting, the nose is going up and down significantly with no change in airspeed or altitude. I wonder how it does that?

Whats your GW? It sounds like you are way to high. Also, ballast should be in the upper aux. Not the tail.

Whats your GW? It sounds like you are way to high. Also, ballast should be in the upper aux. Not the tail.

I wouldnt have thought it was the GW, it's a short hop with only a small amount of cargo so FL410 would probably be the optimum.Regards

Hi guys,My TOW was 137.5. I am doing another position flight with TOW 151.4 and the same problem. This time I took 10000 Kgs. as ballast in forward and mid compartment on maindeck.Another question.After reading about ballast fuel I looked in the manual. I have seen in the MCDU that you can put ballast fuel in, but which tank should I take ?.Best regardsPeter Lund

Peter,FL410 is a little high for the MD. Although your calculated cruise altitude by the FMC may say 410 and it is certified to 43,200, its better to stay around 390. The fast wing design coupled with a smaller horizontal stabilizer make for a squirrely aircraft at that altitude. Also, when flying empty, it is best to keep 20000-30000 lbs. in the upper aux tank.

Are you using any weather engine addon? I used to get this when I used REX, but I havent had them after i stopped using REX. REX is not really compatible with the MD11 (and a bunch of other high quality airplanes as well)