ok the MD11.stunning trijet, wide body aircraft, and around 7000NM in range. perfect for medium-haul and some long haul.why was this so unpopular. There are allot of reports etc going about the internet claiming the wings were to small and the v-stab was not the right size, but FEDEX seem to love them, UPS seem to love them. KLM have stuck with them for nearly 20 years (in 2013). They are used on 9+ Hour flights ETC. why were they so unpopular though. i have flown on the MD11 many times, and been in the cockpit after landing in TNCA on a KLM MD11 and it still had enough fuel to hop over to curacao. The pilot told me he loved flying it and i was a pleasure to fly in. also why didn't MD plan the aircraft better. i think the MD11 could have been as popular as the 767, if it was built properly. i will really miss these birds once KLM has retired them in 2015 and FEDEX and UPS get rid of them in the future. Any opinions guysAlso the PMDG MD11 is a fantastic re-creation any i have flown many 11.5 hour flight in it. so why did airlines like AA replace them so quick.cheers guys

Its lack of popularity is mostly down to the fact that it is a tri-jet. They are not as economical as twins, simple as that. It was a last-gasp attempt by MD to modernise the DC-10, in an attempt to offer a viable alternative to the new twin long range jets that Boeing and Airbus had produced. For a while MD did consider making a twin jet version of the DC-10, but went for the MD-11 instead. That decision was probably what sealed its fate, and the fate of MD too.Airlines prefer the economic advantages of the newer twins (which is also why the Airbus A340 is not as popular as it might be, but the A340 does have the advantage of not having to adhere to ETOPS rulings, so it does have some applications where it is a viable choice). And so when airlines acquired those new long range twins, and ETOPS became a reality, the MD-11s that were with the airlines got sold off cheaply to freight companies. Despite the tri-jet's less economical performance, freight companies were happy to take advantage of that situation, since the relatively low acquisition cost of all those surplus MD-11s could be offset against their higher running costs for a certain amount of years. That is why DC-10s, Tristars and B727s have ended their days with much the same fate, eventually to disappear, although in the case of the 727, its disappearance is also partially due to the fact that there is no economical way to fit a quieter high bypass turbofan in the number 2 engine slot in the fuselage without a major redesign (which Boeing did briefly consider).Aside from the increased maintenance of an extra engine, and the fact that having three engines means they burn more fuel, tri-jets also have a few restrictions placed on them at airports because of that third engine up on the tail, which is of course a lot higher up off the ground than the engines on most other aircraft, so the noise from it travels further and is more likely to get complaints from residents who live near airports.There were (and indeed still are) some problems with the redesign of the DC-10 into its MD-11 incarnation, notably the fact that the original (larger) horizontal stabiliser was a bit too powerful and actually resulted in putting so much force on a prototype that the main spar was overstressed and damaged. As a result of that, the MD-11 was given a smaller horizontal stabiliser, and some have suggested that it is now too small and therefore not adequate for full pitch authority in certain circumstances, although you will certainly get people who will claim otherwise, so it is more of an opinion than a solid fact, and the jury is still out on who is correct. Nevertheless, the fact that it can be tricky to land has led to it gaining the somewhat unkind nickname of 'the Scud', a reference to that weapon's employment by Iraq in the first Gulf War, the implication being that like the Scud missile, you never know exactly where the MD-11 is going to land. However the truth is probably more a case of it simply not being the easiest aircraft to fly, rather than one which is very hard to fly, as its detractors would claim.In short, its a good aircraft, but it was simply born too late.Al

ok the MD11.stunning trijet, wide body aircraft, and around 7000NM in range. perfect for medium-haul and some long haul.why was this so unpopular. There are allot of reports etc going about the internet claiming the wings were to small and the v-stab was not the right size, but FEDEX seem to love them, UPS seem to love them. KLM have stuck with them for nearly 20 years (in 2013). They are used on 9+ Hour flights ETC. why were they so unpopular though. i have flown on the MD11 many times, and been in the cockpit after landing in TNCA on a KLM MD11 and it still had enough fuel to hop over to curacao. The pilot told me he loved flying it and i was a pleasure to fly in. also why didn't MD plan the aircraft better. i think the MD11 could have been as popular as the 767, if it was built properly. i will really miss these birds once KLM has retired them in 2015 and FEDEX and UPS get rid of them in the future. Any opinions guysAlso the PMDG MD11 is a fantastic re-creation any i have flown many 11.5 hour flight in it. so why did airlines like AA replace them so quick.

Not sure but I think fuel efficiency wasn't as good as competing aircraft and by the time MD was able to rectify the problem it was already too late.Totally agree re PMDG MD11X, a high water mark in the history of flight sim add-ons.

I'm sure a fair analysis would include several key reasons but the primary one is probably economics. A twin with similar capabilities is less expensive than a trijet. That's be my expectation.

Superb explanation ! Alan.Dylan opened the old and rusty "MD-11 question" can of worms, and you have put all of them back inside ! :(

An interesting note is that NASA used a MD-11 for the PCA (propulsion controlled aircraft) program. That was for controlling the plane just using engine thrust with no control inputs to see if it could be successfully flown using just the engines - and it was a major success.I think this came about after the Soiux city incident and was a feasabilty study. Dropped in the end because of expense over the need for such a system.John Ellison

ah i understand now. i always new that twinjets were preferred over quads(my name for 4 engine planes) but i thought that a trijet would of kinda been in the middle and be quite good. anyway cheers guys, helped a lot. i hope to get a couple more flights on the next 5 years on a KLM MD11 before they sell them off (most probably to fedex) in 2015. catch em while you can eh!cheers guys

I think there was probably some residual spillover from the issues the DC-10 had during its time in service too, there were some very high profile accidents and regardless of whether it was warranted or not, I think some may have felt that it was better to just go with the all new designs of the 777 and A330 instead of an updated DC-10.That said, I flew on DC-10s many times when I was younger and always liked the plane. It had a very distinctive and cool growling noise from the engines if you sat ahead of the wing on takeoff.

I think there was probably some residual spillover from the issues the DC-10 had during its time in service too, there were some very high profile accidents and regardless of whether it was warranted or not, I think some may have felt that it was better to just go with the all new designs of the 777 and A330 instead of an updated DC-10.

That is almost certainly part of it too. Particularly in the case of American Airlines Flight 191, which crashed soon after departure from Chicago when its port engine detached on take off , owing to poor maintenance practices. The stricken aircraft was photographed seconds before it impacted the ground, and that horrifying image was very widely circulated by the press, causing extremely bad PR for the DC-10, despite the fact that it was not caused by any kind of inherent fault in the aircraft itself.Ironically, what was learned from how the engine separation in that accident had caused what could have been avoidable collateral damage to the slat deployment systems, had there been better systems redundancy, and the subsequent discovery that the cockpit annunciator lights for those slat failures were less than helpful in informing the crew of how they might possibly get the aircraft under control, did lead to a number of wide-ranging changes in the design of many commercial aircraft, including the MD-11.Al

Yeah, there was that crash, plus United 232 in Sioux City, plus all the incidents involving the rear cargo door blowing out and severing hydraulic lines early on in the plane's life. There's an episode of Air Crash Investigation that focuses solely on DC-10 issues, pretty fascinating to watch...

Superb explanation ! Alan.Dylan opened the old and rusty "MD-11 question" can of worms, and you have put all of them back inside ! :(

Indeed.Economics played the main role in shortening the MD11 career as a passenger carrier. As Alan mentioned, the MD11, as a trijet, already had a cost/mile passenger disavantage when compared to competing twins. But then it failed to deliver the range that had been advertised. A major blow to the program occured in August 1991 when Singapore Airlines CANCELLED an order for 20 MD11s because of this range problem and ordered A340s instead.Having a high profile customer cancel a large order early on certainly didn't bode well for the future of the plane.Bruno

a few pilots will tell you now there were some design flaws that have recently come to light with the fatal landings

I see nobody has mentioned the plus points over other aircraft . The MD-11 is a monster taking off from high altitude airports and out performs the 747 and A340 . The MD11 packs some serious power and is nicknamed the Rocket due to its climb rate . MD-11s were popular in South America along with the DC-10 which was built to meet operators needs like American and Delta . The Tri-jet is based on airlines needs from the 70s with takeoffs and landings high priority (STOLS) .This is why its popular as a freighter because it has the power to carry more further . The MD11 will be around for a long time yet McDonnell Douglas knew how to build to last . The MD11 didnt perform well when it was first released but once NASA got in on the act they came up with ER version but it was too late with other options available .Also just to add to this the DC-10 gets a lot of stick but 747-200 has a worse safety recordLee Marrow

Actually, it does have another advantage over some other aircraft, and that is (ironically enough) the fact that it has three engines, which although not the best for economy compared to long range twins, does mean it can fly to certain areas of the globe that a twin cannot get to legally unless the military are flying it. There aren't a vast amount of places like that, but they certainly exist. And with one less engine than a 747, it suddenly becomes an economical choice.Al

The unpopularity stems from the fact that it is in essence a DC10 which was a catastrophic design!! I resolutely refused to fly in one which is why I am still alive!! Maintenance was a nightmare to put it mildly.answer this question.Would you fly in an aircraft which the manufacturers knew from the design stage that it would one day crash?vololiberista