FSX-SE Story of McDonnell Douglas "MD-10"...in 19 pics...

[P_7878 6,853]

[We know well the "DC-10" and also the "MD-11", but what exactly is an "MD-10"? This is a topic that has caught my attention, since a long time, so, I have been lately collecting bits and pieces about it. So, here we go, an account of it all...If you care for some aviation reading, please read the text...or, you may just jump to the screenshots below, which I hope you might like...]

First of all, the (better-known) DC-10, from which the "MD-10" is derived, is an a/c that has not received due attention in our SIMs. DC-10 was a fascinating trijet in its own right. Though it had started wrong-footed (aka the fatal cargo-door design flaw), eventually it recovered from the setback to prove for itself a safety record, comparable to other (original) "jumbo" jets of its era, being one in the famous trio (B747, L-1011, DC-10), and, in fact, outsold the L-1011. The JF/CLS DC-10 SIM (in DVD...!) was one of my earliest "in-shop" purchases from the shelves of Fry's Electronics (the retailer closed its doors in February last year) .... But, somehow, I lost that "DVD" during my few years of break from SIM...and never re-acquired it, thinking a more "refined" version of it would come along into my virtual world...Oh well...a decade (plus) is a long enough time to wait for a SIM...🙂...and I don't see any yet...so, in this new year, during one of the multitude SALEs, I re-acquired the "on-line" (aka: download) version of the JF/CLS DC-10. This post, here, is based on that DC-10 SIM, with bits of twists added about "MD-10"...

For background, as both the McDonnell Douglas MD-11 and the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 were retired from pax service, these (fine) aircraft found their way into the hands of various cargo carriers, who converted them to (profitable) freighters. One company, FedEx, had both aircraft (numerous) in its fleet in the mid-90s (104 DC-10s and 80 MD-11s...)! FedEx realized that this was bit of a logistic problem, requiring different type ratings for the two very similar a/c, and thus, a pilot who had experience flying one was not allowed to fly the other. So, to streamline their operations, FedEx approached Boeing for a solution. 

It took Boeing 4 years, but it did come up with a custom BCF (Boeing Converted Freighter) program (similar to 747-400BCF conversion), by which 33 of the 104 (FedEx) DC-10s were converted to "MD-10"s (the first MD-10 flew in 2000). The MD-10 trijet is a cockpit conversion of the DC-10 designed to allow pilots of the MD-11 to fly the plane without having to qualify for a different type rating. Significantly, MD-10 sported an (advanced) upgrade to full glass cockpit similar to that of the MD-11 (see my DC-10 and MD-11 [VC] shots below, for comparison), eliminating the need for the flight engineer (3-crew on DC-10 vs. 2-crew on MD-10). This was, indeed, a comprehensive (major) upgrade which essentially involved cutting out the entire cockpit of the DC-10 and replacing it with that of an MD-11.

Interestingly, it is worth noting that, similar to the Airbus cockpit philosophy, here are 3 McDonnell Douglas a/c all with essentially similar “Advanced Common Flightdeck” ... (MD-10, MD-11, and MD-95 aka Boeing 717) ...and, unfortunately, all three are now slated to disappear from the RW skies, in the near future...if not already...

The world's last remaining McDonnell Douglas MD-10-10F made its final journey last year, having been retired by FedEx. That aircraft, after 43 years of operation, flew, on June 4th, 2021, from Memphis (FedEx Hub) to Victorville, Southern California, (the a/c boneyard in the Mojave Desert - see my landing shots, below) for storage. The plane was the last of FedEx's final four MD-10-10Fs to have been retired last year. That last MD-10-10F had begun life as a (pax) DC-10 with American Airlines (see starting images below) back in February 1978 and had gone through the phased transformations (DC-10-10 -> DC-10-10F -> MD-10-10F). The remaining MD-10s of FedEx (all -30F variants) will be gone too, in another year or so...!

So, as a mark of honor to the "last" flying MD-10-10F, please find below, first, images of an AA DC-10-10 (Pax) lifting off Memphis Intl. (KMEM), and transforming, in midflight, to a FedEx MD-10-10F (external appearance wise...🙂...of course) ...and landing for the last time in Victorville, Southern California Logistics Airport (KYCV). I've interjected two (symbolic) screenshots of the MD-11F cockpit, in the concluding shots, so, you might visualize what this MD-10-10F's cockpit might look like... (if my shown DC-10-10F, below, were actually an MD-10-10F) ...!

Hope you enjoy these pictures of this classic a/c, the smallest of the MD-10 series, and among the very last of the McDonnell Douglas trijets, to be produced, bearing the signature spirit of this a/c maker...! The MD-10 was indeed a curious mixture of a DC-10 and an MD-11...!

Thanks for your interest...!! Good flying...!

[JF/CLS (DC-10), PMDG (MD-11F)]

[pmplayer 9,738]

Beautiful set !

cheers 😉

[Pugilist2 882]

Excellent set! Enjoy seeing the trijets.

[Alaska738 8,567]

Very nice set of shots! 🙂 

[Phantom88 3,290]

***Awesome***

[johnbow72 2,722]

Fantastic caps !! .

[duesenwerni 735]

A fine historical background info to go with these great shots! 

Back in my FSX days, I would have liked to get my hands on the PMDG MD-11 but never got around to it and instead, settled for the JF/CLS DC-10. Now PMDG don´t even sell the MD-11 anymore 😢 and I refrain from buying PMDG products from second hand stores. So, sadly no MD-11 for me (unless someone comes out with one for then XP 12).

[edetroit 935]

Lovely set P_7878!. Big threeholer fan here.🥰

I managed to purchase on of the last PMDG MD-11 DVDs. Lot's of fun learning the well implemented systems...... the model itself let it down a bit IMHO.🤓

CLS DC-10. I seem to remember there being an update for FSX but not FS9....never mind It's my choice of DC-10 model.🤔

Both suffer for amateurish bogie animation.  🙁

[rmeier 475]

Great set of shots!

The DC-10/MD11 was such a beautiful/unique aircraft. Sad that the DC-10 had such a poor reputation at the start of her career.

Made countless flights on Northwest's DC-10-40's between Memphis and Amsterdam circa 2005/6 before they retired them for the A330. Unfortunately, these beautiful aircraft are fading too quickly from our skies.

[P_7878 6,853]

Folks:

Much appreciated the responses and comments...!!

 

11 hours ago, duesenwerni said:

A fine historical background info to go with these great shots! 

Back in my FSX days, I would have liked to get my hands on the PMDG MD-11 but never got around to it and instead, settled for the JF/CLS DC-10. Now PMDG don´t even sell the MD-11 anymore 😢 and I refrain from buying PMDG products from second hand stores. So, sadly no MD-11 for me (unless someone comes out with one for then XP 12).

Thank you, duesenwerni...! I can surely understand the sentiments and wishes for a good MD-11 SIM...🙂...who knows after TFDi does one for MSFS/P3D... someone might do one for XP...

 

11 hours ago, edetroit said:

Lovely set P_7878!. Big threeholer fan here.🥰

Thanks much...! No secret about the threeholer fanhood there, Ed...🙂...btw, haven't seen those (impressive) Russian threeholers in a while....🙂...

11 hours ago, edetroit said:

I managed to purchase one of the last PMDG MD-11 DVDs. Lot's of fun learning the well implemented systems...

You mean you have access to the PMDG MD-11 now...wonderful...I thought I was the only one...🙂...still around...

I do recall when it was first released by PMDG...with a bit less fanfare than the Queen...I also recall diligently repeating that (well-written) "SWR801: London Heathrow - Zürich" tutorial...without cutting any corners...Great stuff for that time and for always...I still fly it occasionally because, though being a (legacy) heavy hitter, it does not give me any grief on my moderate FSX/SE system...

 

7 hours ago, rmeier said:

Great set of shots!

The DC-10/MD11 was such a beautiful/unique aircraft. Sad that the DC-10 had such a poor reputation at the start of her career.

Made countless flights on Northwest's DC-10-40's between Memphis and Amsterdam circa 2005/6 before they retired them for the A330. Unfortunately, these beautiful aircraft are fading too quickly from our skies.

At least you recall that you flew on DC-10s... unlike me, being not so knowledgeable enough in those early days of my aviation interest, I didn't know, until now, that, that I must have, indeed, flown on DC-10s in the nineties...on LH trijets...Only recently I found out that LH operated 12 DC-10s (till 1994). Of course, those days, I could not have told apart a DC-10 from a L-1011 or an MD-11, all placed together...side by side...🙂...forget about an MD-10...

BTW, I was looking around a bit today...how to tell/spot apart a DC-10 from an MD-10 (externally)...here is a smart (and probably the best) answer I've found so far:

"A very simple way to determine if it is a DC-10 or MD-10 just look at the nose of the aircraft. If the aircraft has been converted it will say MD-10 on the nose..."... simple enough...indeed...though I was looking for something different...🙂...

[rmeier 475]

3 hours ago, P_7878 said:

Of course, those days, I could not have told apart a DC-10 from a L-1011 or an MD-11, all placed together...side by side...🙂...forget about an MD-10...

BTW, I was looking around a bit today...how to tell/spot apart a DC-10 from an MD-10 (externally)...here is a smart (and probably the best) answer I've found so far:

"A very simple way to determine if it is a DC-10 or MD-10 just look at the nose of the aircraft. If the aircraft has been converted it will say MD-10 on the nose..."... simple enough...indeed...though I was looking for something different...🙂...

LOL...I grew up under the flight path of runway 12/30 of CYVR...about 2-3 km from the airport. Visual recognition of those old planes was the easy part for me...identifying them by sound was the fun part! (You could always hear the old DC-8's departing...no matter what runway or weather conditions!

I always thought that the MD-10 was a Fedex exclusive conversion...of course, I have no data to back that up. I always wondered how economical that upgrade was...estimating about $2MM for avionics for each aircraft spread over the remaining life of the airframe. Of course, I'm not factoring in the cross functionality of MD-11 flight crews to fly all airframes, and the main driver being a flight crew reduction, no doubt.

Regardless, the DC-10/MD11 was an awesome plane...my first flight on the DC-10 was CP Air (technically, Canadian Airlines in the early 1990's).

Thanks for the photos/story.

[P_7878 6,853]

17 hours ago, rmeier said:

I always thought that the MD-10 was a Fedex exclusive conversion...of course, I have no data to back that up. I always wondered how economical that upgrade was...estimating about $2MM for avionics for each aircraft spread over the remaining life of the airframe. Of course, I'm not factoring in the cross functionality of MD-11 flight crews to fly all airframes, and the main driver being a flight crew reduction, no doubt.

Regardless, the DC-10/MD11 was an awesome plane...my first flight on the DC-10 was CP Air (technically, Canadian Airlines in the early 1990's).

Thanks for the photos/story.

Thanks for the additional thoughts and comments...!!

Your comment made me look up a bit:

You're right, it's only FedEx that requested such (BCF) conversions of their legacy DC-10s, to more modernized flightdeck versions. Most of these DC-10s came to FedEx from other airlines (e.g., UA and AA) after completion of their passenger service lifespan, but with plenty of (good) life left still. For example, the very last (retired) MD-10F, I've mentioned above, spent about 20+ years with AA and then another ~20 years with FedEx, for a total of 43 years...!

So, apparently, the ownership of these upgraded MD-10 Freighters proved more cost-efficient to FedEx than acquiring new DC-10F or MD-11F freighters. Additionally, 2-man vs. 3-man crew and associated logistics probably provided other (long-term) economic benefits. 

The BCF type, 3rd-party assisted conversions, especially these days, seem quite common and profitable, from Boeing perspective. Here is a statement, I caught today, "Strong demand is driven by customers transitioning to newer-generation freighters and choosing a Boeing converted freighter (BCF) as a cost-efficient alternative that can be modified with approximately a 90-day turnaround time, regardless of the conversion facility...” In fact, just, past November, Boeing has opened 3 such new conversion facilities specifically for the (lucrative) 737-800BCF...There are BCF programs, on record, for 737, 747, 767, and 777. For 757, there also seem to be a similar program called SF/PCF...so, such programs seem like a win-win for both sides...

And, regarding CP Air / Canadian Airlines, I did find the Canadian (no CP Air, though), in the livery pack, which I'd got with the JF/CLS base install but had not installed till today...please see my follow-up post...Good day and rest of the weekend...!!

[skully 1,046]

Outstanding!

Really wish we had this one in MSFS- TFDI's MD-11 is looking to be excellent.

[bernd1151 6,075]

Excellent post with plenty of good background info, P_7878!!

[P_7878 6,853]

skully, bernd:

Thanks much for the additional comments and kind words...🙂....!!

(Hold on, skully, TFDI will surely deliver for you....and it will be a classic...I have their B717 and have high respects for that team...) ...