I'm sure many of you have seen this,.. But if not here is a documentary from when we used to do the around the world flights with the MD11, available in both English and German.

 

http://dailyherold.tv/2010/03/24/exclusive-first-on-daily-herold-round-the-world-in-66-hours-in-the-cockpit-of-the-cargo-kings/

Wow...had not seen that before....is the MD-11 replaced by the B747 on round the world duties now?

No we just don't do that flight anymore (I think because the agreement on Air New Zealand using our belly came to an end)

 

LH Cargo has the MD-11 as a dedicated freighter, and we have access to the belly of all LH, CityLine, Swiss, etc etc

 

We also have a stake in Aerologic and Jade Cargo.

Had never seen this one, thx Dennis

I'm glad that you all enjoyed it, I just thought it would of done the rounds by now.

 

I asked pilotseye.tv to do another video this time with LH Cargo, so we will have to see if anything comes of it.

I'm glad that you all enjoyed it, I just thought it would of done the rounds by now.

 

I asked pilotseye.tv to do another video this time with LH Cargo, so we will have to see if anything comes of it.

 

I especially enjoyed the "overspeed." :))

 

I didn't see much handflying. What is the practice at LH?

 

Billy Bluestar

Upto us depends on my mood sometimes I leave the autopilot in until minimums sometimes I will handfly it to 10k and back down again.

 

I would say the most common would be to handfly it from somewhere around 1000 - 500 feet from touchdown.

 

Nothing really hard and fast on this, all depends on weather, workload and really what the PF wants to do.

I know there is a fair amount of training on handling during approach and landing, specially after the crash in Ryadh, what is your view of the handling of the MD11? Do you use a standard vref plus 5 or faster?

The MD11 is a good aircraft and a safe one. You need to be on top of all aircraft, maybe the MD11 needs a little closer of and eye than others.

 

One of the things you have to get used to flying cargo is the vast changes in weight and the way the aircraft handles, one day (or one leg) you can be empty the next have almost 90,000KGS of cargo on board and a bunch of fuel. This really changes the way she flys. (you don't get this flying passengers - it always tends to be a middle of the road figure)

 

The MD does not like to get slow (but what aircraft does?) VREF + 5 works just fine, of course if you start adding much more... You run into problems stopping her! Every knot you add over the threshold = a significant increase in the landing distance.

 

A good landing is a firm one in the touchdown zone, if your not going to be able to do it.... Just go around and start again. Nobody will thankyounformpulling a landing off from a unstable approach (quite the opposit infact)

 

The same if you have a significant bounce, go around and start again DO NOT try and save the landing.... As with many transport aircraft if you try and save the landing from a significant bounce your asking for trouble.

 

I hope that answers the question without being specific about any incidents.

Sounds great, i find it one of the most graceful aircraft in the sky, love the sight and sound of it.

 

Any noticeable "feel" on the landing by having the leg strut go into the wing spar??

Not really.... Although some of the runways we land on feels more like you have landed on a dirt track anyway!

 

 

The MD11 does have a tendency to do a little skip or a small bounce when touching down.... Which you see time and time again in the videos on YouTube.

 

Pretty much somewhere between 50 -30 feet depending on conditions close the thrust, then about 40 start to check the ROD 30 a little more 20 a little more and then hold it.

 

After touchdown a little forward pressure (to compensate for the pitch up from the spoilers) and then fly the nose wheel onto the runway.

 

As soon as you come over the threshold eyes towards the far end of the runway and that makes the flare intuitive the RA callous are nice to have but the landing is really done by "feel" eyes at the end of the runway and gently "sinking" to meet it.

 

Proper eye and seat position is essential.

 

Fantastic. Glad to see the big tri jet still getting around the world!

I'm sure many of you have seen this,.. But if not here is a documentary from when we used to do the around the world flights with the MD11, available in both English and German.

 

http://dailyherold.t...he-cargo-kings/

 

Very nice I enjoyed it very much thanks for posting this DLH_FRA.

Upto us depends on my mood sometimes I leave the autopilot in until minimums sometimes I will handfly it to 10k and back down again.

 

I would say the most common would be to handfly it from somewhere around 1000 - 500 feet from touchdown.

 

Nothing really hard and fast on this, all depends on weather, workload and really what the PF wants to do.

Dennis,

 

Autothrottle?

 

Hand fly below 100, no autothrottle, stabilized at 10.

 

The MD11 is a good aircraft and a safe one. You need to be on top of all aircraft, maybe the MD11 needs a little closer of and eye than others

 

The 11 is a great airplane. I liked the 10 better because of the FE.

 

Billy Bluestar

Personally I take the both out a/p and a/t much sooner than that... To get in the grove of what the aircraft is doing.

 

The problem with the A/T is it can be retarding the power at low levels when your correcting for being slightly low (and is not quick enough to respond to what your doing), this then bleeds of the speed and you get into a very nasty area.

 

The MD11 is a very pitch and power aircraft - get the approach nailed, hold it and control the rest with the power, be very aware of the approach becoming unstable at low level. The size of the aircraft and the smaller than normal control surfaces don't react well to last minute changes to arrest a high sink rate.