McDonnell Douglas MD-11

In the above photo the first MD-11 N111MD (48401/447) turns onto Rwy 12 for departure on its Maiden Flight January 10, 1990. The aircraft would later enter service with Fed Ex as N601FE.
(Photo By Tim Williams)

Welcome to the MD-11 section of my website.

The MD-11 is not an upgraded or streched version of the DC-10, but a completely new DAC design. The MD-11, graceful and eligant in appearance and has become the workhorse of air freight airlines around the world. Today it seems as though most of the original passenger operators are either selling their MD-11 fleets to cargo companies such as American Airlines is to FedEx or converting their MD-11s to cargo aircraft and adding them to their existing cargo fleets such as
China Eastern and Korean Air.

The MD-11 program itself reaches back to 1978 when DAC was negotiating the KC-10A contract with the U.S. Air Force. Even if DAC won a large military contract enabling the DC-10 production line to remain open, airline orders for the DC-10 were drying up and the end of the program was near. Airlines were still interested in the trijet concept, but were looking for longer range with more capcity.

With this in mind, DAC designers came up with the DC-10 Series 60, of which there were three varients, Series 61, Series 62 and Series 63. The -61 and -63 would have a fuselage stretch of 40 feet with the -62 receiving a shorter stretch of 27 feet. The Series 61 would be offered to U.S. domestic airlines using the wing of the DC-10. The Series 62 would have a reduction in overall weight due to the shorter fuselage strecth but would have a larger wing span greatly increasing its operational range. The Series 63 would combine the increased fuselage length of the -61 and bigger wing span of the -62 creating a large capacity long-haul airliner. Unfortunately plans for the Series 60 were shelved in the late 1970s due to world financial problems. The program did resurface shortly in 1983 when DAC studied an advanced-technology trijet designated the
MD-100. DAC Engineers found that the MD-100 project provided much needed data and focused their view on new systems/technologies and power plants being offered.

So in July 1984 DAC announced the MD-XXX, a highly redesigned version of the DC-10-30 using new engines
(GE CF6-80C2 or PW4000) accompanied by numerous systems improvements. The MD-XXX program evolved into a new family of aircraft which DAC designated as the MD-11X. The first version was the MD-11X-10ER which again was closely related to the DC-10-30. The other two versions were designated the MD-11X-20 and MD100X-MR both of which had extended fuselages.

Finally on December 30, 1986 DAC announced that the MD-11 would become a reality when the company gave the go-ahead for the program. The program however would not have an easy time of it due to the lack of firm orders. Traditional DAC customers such as American and Delta had not yet placed any orders for the new aircraft, but hopes were lifted when Alitalia ordered the first MD-11 Combi followed by an order from Federal Express for the first MD-11F. DAC even looked at new ways to stimulate interest in the MD-11, one being the Super Stretched version with a 35-foot fuselage extension which included a panorama deck. The panorama deck would be fitted into the forward cargo hold below the main deck and provide seating for up to 62 passengers.

Construction of the first MD-11 (48401/447) began on March 9, 1988 with the first flight scheduled to take place a year later. Again things would not go smoothly for the program due to increased orders for the MD-80 and developement work on the MD-90. DAC was in a financial mess and MD-11 suppliers were failing to meet delivery schedules resulting in a slow down of production on the first aircraft. The MD-11s first flight was pushed back to April 1989, but this of course
was being very optimistic.

Roll out of the MD-11 finally took place on November 6, 1989 with the first flight occuring on January 10, 1990 eight months behind schedule. The flight test program envolved five aircraft and over 2,000 hours of in flight tests which included a 16.5 hour flight over the North Pole. On October 8, 1990 the MD-11 received it's type and production certificate from the FAA. The initial certificate was with the General Electric CF6-80C2 engines, but in December 1990 the MD-11 received it's certificate with the Pratt & Whitney PW4000 engine.

The first MD-11 delivered (48449/455)was delivered to Finnair as (OH-LGA) on December 7, 1990 with the first revenue flight taking place on December 20, 1990 when the aircraft operated a flight between Helsinki and Tenerife in the Canary Islands. After entering service the MD-11 incountered problems with flight range due to power plant problems, the engines were not performing as GE and P&W had advertised. This lack of range caused some of the airlines that had ordered the MD-11 to re-evalute the aircraft which resulted in one huge cancellation coming from Singapore Airlines which had ordered 20 firm MD-11s. Singapore had wanted the MD-11 to operated specifically on its long range routes such as the 7,200 mile Singapore-Paris run.

This cancellation struck a big blow to the program and some say was the beginning of the end for the program. The only derivative of the MD-11 was the MD-11(ER) which had a higher fuel load and higher maximum take-off weight for increased range and payload. In August 1997 Boeing and McDonnell Douglas merged, and after further evaluating the MD-11 Boeing made the decision to continue production on the back of an order form Lufthansa. Boeing hoped more orders would follow for the freighter version of the MD-11, but when none did (wonder why?) Boeing made the decision to cancel the program making the announcement on June 3, 1998 angering many employees and customers alike.

"Despite our best marketing efforts (right!) it became clear to us that there simply wasn't enough customer interest (room) in either the passenger or freighter versions of this airplane (but look at our 757, 767 and 747 Freightes) to justify keeping the production line open," stated Ron Woodard, then president of the Boeing Commercial Airplane group. Sadly the last MD-11 was delivered to Lufthansa Cargo on February 22, 2001.

MD-11 Production List Updated **(11/20/2004)**
McDonnell Douglas MD-11 Photo Gallery One
McDonnell Dougals MD-11 (F) Photo Gallery Two
McDonnell Douglas MD-11 Photo Gallery Three
McDonnell Douglas MD-11 Photo Gallery Four
McDonnell Douglas MD-11 (F) Photo Gallery Five

Email: lgbguy@charter.net