McDonnell Douglas MD-11 Totally Explained

Everything about Mcdonnell-douglas Md-11 totally explained

The McDonnell Douglas MD-11 is an American three-engine medium to long-range widebody airliner, with two engines mounted on underwing pylons and a third engine at the base of the vertical stabilizer. It is based on the DC-10, but featuring a stretched fuselage, increased wingspan with winglets, refined aerofoils on the wing and tailplane, new engines and increased use of composite materials. It features an all-digital glass cockpit that decreases the crew to two from the three required on the DC-10.

Development

Origins

Although the MD-11 program was launched in 1986, McDonnell Douglas started to search for a DC-10 derivative as early as 1976. Two versions were considered then, a DC-10-10 with a fuselage stretch of 40 feet (12.19 m) and a DC-10-30 stretched by 30 ft (9.14 m). That later version would have been capable of transporting up to 340 passengers in a multi-class configuration, or 277 passengers and their luggage over 5,300 nautical miles (9,800 km). At the same time, the manufacturer was searching to reduce wing and engine drag on the trijet. Another version of the aircraft was also envisaged, the "DC-10 global", aimed to counter the risks of loss of orders for the DC-10-30 that the Boeing 747SP and its range were creating. The DC-10 global would have incorporated more fuel tanks.
   While continuing its research for a new aircraft, McDonnell Douglas designated the whole program as the DC-10 Super 60, having previously been known for a short time as DC-10 Super 50. The Super 60 was to be an intercontinental aircraft incorporating many aerodynamic improvements on the wings, and a fuselage lengthened by 26 feet 8 in (8.13 m) to allow up to 350 passengers to seat in a mixed class layout, compared to the capacity of 275 in the same configuration of the DC-10. and 40 options American Airlines in particular was unimpressed, as was Singapore Airlines, who canceled its order for 20 aircraft. The former cited problems with the performance of the airframe and the Pratt & Whitney PW4000 engines selected for its use as reasons of the cancellation while the latter said that the MD-11 can't fulfill the airline's long haul routes. The figures revealed exclusively to Flight International show that, based on pre-flight estimates, the P&W-powered MD-11 should have been capable of a 7,000 nautical miles (12,950 km) range with 61,000 pounds (27,680 kg) of payload. Even with the Phase 1 drag reduction in place then, the aircraft could only achieve its full range with 48,500 lb (22,000 kg) of payload, or a reduced range of 6,493 nm (12,025 km) with a full payload.
   In 1990, McDonnell Douglas with Pratt & Whitney and General Electric began a modification program known as the Performance Improvement Program (PIP) to improve the aircraft’s weight, fuel capacity, engine performance, and aerodynamics. McDonnell Douglas worked with NASA's Langley Research Center to study aerodynamic improvements. The PIP lasted to 1995 and recovered the range for the aircraft. However, the damage was already done. The last two MD-11s were manufactured during June and September 2000, and delivered to Lufthansa Cargo on February 22 and January 21 2001 respectively. Production ended because of lack of sales, due to internal competition from comparable aircraft, such as the Boeing 777 and external competition from the Airbus A330/A340. Also, two engines are generally less expensive to operate and maintain than three. Since there was a large demand for cargo aircraft and because there was no 777 cargo version available at the time, many airlines using the MD-11 were anxious to switch to the 777 as they'd no problems selling their used MD-11s to cargo operators.
   McDonnell Douglas and later Boeing performed studies on the feasibility of removing the tail engine and making it a two engine plane, but nothing came of it.
   McDonnell Douglas originally projected that it would sell more than 300 MD-11 aircraft, but only a total of 200 planes were built. The MD-11 was assembled at McDonnell Douglas's Douglas Products Division in Long Beach, California (later Boeing's). In August 2006, a total of 191 MD-11 aircraft were in airline service.

Design

The MD-11 is a medium to long-range widebody airliner, with two engines mounted on underwing pylons and a third engine at the base of the vertical stabilizer. It is based on the DC-10, but featuring a stretched fuselage, increased wingspan with winglets, refined aerofoils on the wing and tailplane, new engines and increased use of composites.
The MD-11 features a two-crew cockpit that incorporates six interchangeable CRT-units and advanced Honeywell VIA 2000 computers. The cockpit design is called Advanced Common Flightdeck (ACF) and is shared with the Boeing 717. Flight deck features include an Electronic Instrument System, a dual Flight Management System, a Central Fault Display System, and Global Positioning System. Category IIIb automatic landing capability for bad-weather operations and Future Air Navigation Systems are available.
The MD-11 incorporates hydraulic fuses not included in the initial DC-10 design, to prevent catastrophic loss of control in event of a hydraulic failure.

Variants

The MD-11 was manufactured in five variants.

MD-11 (131 built): the Passenger variant, sometimes referred to as MD-11P, was produced from 1988 to 1998. It was the first version on offer at launch of the aircraft in 1986, and was delivered to: Alitalia (3); American Airlines (19); China Airlines (5); China Eastern Airlines (5); City Bird (3); Delta Air Lines (17); EVA Air (3); Finnair (7); Garuda Indonesia (6); Japan Air Lines (10); KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (10); Korean Air (5); LTU International Airways (4); Saudi Arabian Royal Flight (2); Swissair (16); Thai Airways International (4); Varig (6); VASP (6) and World Airways (3). to offer a range of 7,240 nm (13,410 km), an increase of 400 nm (750 km) over the standard passenger variant. MD-11ERs were delivered between 1995 and 1997 to Garuda Indonesia (3) and World Airways (2). As of February 2007, one MD-11ER has been converted to MD-11 with the removal of the extra fuel tank. This aircraft is in service with Finnair. less than four years after the first was delivered. One year later, American Airlines signed an agreement to sell its nineteen aircraft to FedEx with the first leaving the fleet in January 1996.
   In October 2006, TAM Linhas Aéreas announced an order for four 777-300ER, expected to be delivered in 2008. In the meantime, the airline decided to lease three MD-11s for its intercontinental services.
   In May 2007, Finnair has announced the sale of its last two self-owned MD-11s to Aeroflot which are thus to become part of the Russian airline cargo fleet in 2008 and 2009.
   After sixteen years of services with Varig, the MD-11 was finally retired from the airline's fleet following the arrival of flight RG8741 from Frankfurt, Germany on June 9, 2007. As of June 10, 2007, Finnair (7), KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (10) and TAM Linhas Aéreas (3) are the only airlines still operating MD-11s on their regular intercontinental flights. World Airways is also operating 6 MD-11s, mainly for the Air Mobility Command, of which three are former Delta Airlines aircraft now leased from United Parcel Service until their conversion to freighter, as well as two MD-11ERs, one of which is dedicated and specially configured for the "Houston Express", SonAir's three times weekly service between Houston and Luanda in Angola.
   Two MD-11s are also operated by the Saudi Arabian Airlines Royal Flight in a VIP configuration for members of the Royal family.

Cargo

Aeroflot-Cargo - The Russian airline is to receive the first of at least six MD-11F in 2008. Two aircraft are actually stored another pair is in service with Finnair while the last two are flying with TAM Linhas Aéreas.

Alitalia (5) - The Italian carrier has converted the five former MD-11C it had in its fleet.

China Cargo Airlines (6) - This is a joint venture between China Eastern Airlines and China Ocean Shipping utilizing six former China Eastern aircraft.

Ethiopian Airlines has signed an agreement to purchase an MD-11 which will be delivered in January 2009 following its conversion to freighter. The airline has also announced that it intends to lease a second MD-11F for delivery at the end of 2009.

EVA Air Cargo (9) - Two member of the fleet are previously passenger MD-11s and converted to freighter in 2003.

FedEx Express (58) - The fleet is composed of 21 newly delivered aircraft and 37 second hand passenger aircraft converted to freighter coming from American Airlines, China Airlines, Delta Air Lines and Swiss International Airlines.

Gemini Air Cargo (4) - The first two received in 2000 are former Varig aircraft, while the last two are former VASP planes.

Lufthansa Cargo (19) - This airline was the last major to order MD-11s and received 14 of the freighter, including the very last MD-11 produced. In 2004 and 2005 it added to its fleet five former Alitalia (3) and Varig (2) passenger aircraft after having them converted to freighter.

Martinair (7) - The Dutch company trijet fleet is composed of four MD-11CF currently used only for cargo flights as well as two newly delivered MD-11Fs and a former Swiss MD-11 converted to freighter.

Saudi Arabian Airlines (4) - All newly delivered in December 1997 and January 1998 and operated on flights to Addis Ababa, Bangkok, Brussels, Hong Kong, Khartoum and Shanghai.

Shanghai Airlines (3) - The Pudong International Airport based airline is currently utilizing three former EVA Air MD-11Fs.

Transmile Air Services (4) - The Malaysian airline fleet is composed of four former Swiss/LTU passenger aircraft converted to freighter.

United Parcel Service (30) - UPS fleet of MD-11Fs is exclusively composed of second hand passenger aircraft converted having previously served with Delta Air Lines, Thai Airways International, Swissair, VARIG, VASP and World Airways. As of August 2007, 29 are in service while 9 additional are to enter the fleet by 2008.

Varig Logistica (2) operates the former Korean Air Cargo MD-11Fs since 2005 on its cargo flights towards Europe and the United States.

World Airways (6) - Of the six aircraft only one was built as freighter. Two were previously MD-11CFs and converted in 2002, two are former Korean Air aircraft, while the last one is the next to last MD-11 passenger built and converted to freighter in October 2006. On 8 March 2005 World reached an agreement with Air Canada to operate an MD-11F for the Canadian airline between several cities in Asia and Toronto as well as from the Canadian city and Europe. Three months later, both parties reached another agreement to operate two additional MD-11Fs for Air Canada between North America and China. In September 2006, World Airways and Lufthansa Cargo signed a contract by which the American carrier would operate two MD-11Fs for the German airline between Europe and North America through October 2007, starting with the winter 2006 schedule. In May 2007, a new and expanded contract between the two companies has been signed. By its terms, this new contract is to supersede the current one starting 1 July 2007 and covers the operation of three MD-11Fs for the German airline. Five days later, 21 May 2007, World Airways signed a one-year ACMI contract extension with Air Canada for international cargo service between Toronto, Canada and Frankfurt, Germany beginning 1 July 2007. Sources:

China Airlines Flight 642 crashed August 22, 1999 while landing at Hong Kong airport during a typhoon that exceeded the plane's crosswind specifications, also flipping onto its back and burning. Three passengers were killed on flight 642.

FedEx Express MD-11F N581FE was written off after landing at Subic Bay International Airport October 17, 1999. The aircraft was operating flight 87 from Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport. Upon landing, the aircraft rolled down the whole length of the runway before plunging into the bay where it was completely submerged except for the cockpit. An excessive approach and landing speed was pointed out as probable cause of the accident.

Specifications

	MD-11 (Passenger)	MD-11CF (Convertible Freighter)	MD-11F (Freighter)	MD-11C (Combi)	MD-11ER (Extended Range)
Passengers/Pallets	410 (1 class) 323 (2 class) 293 (3 class)	410 (1 class) 323 (2 class) 293 (3 class) 26 pallets	26 pallets	410 (1 class) 214 (2 class) 181 (3 class) 6 pallets	410 (1 class) 323 (2 class) 293 (3 class)
Length	200 ft 11 in (61.23 m) with Pratt & Whitney engines 201 ft 4 in (61.36 m) with General Electric engines
Wingspan	169 ft 6 in (51.66 m)
Wing area	3,648 square feet (339 square meters) including winglets
Tail height	57 ft 9 in (17.60 m)
Max takeoff weight *	standard: heavy:	standard: heavy:	standard: heavy:	standard: heavy:
Max landing weight		optional: (218,405 kg)
Operating empty weight
Take-off distance at MTOW	10,300 ft (3,140 m)
Max range	6,840 NM (12,655 km)	Pass: 6,840 NM (12,655 km) Freight: 3,950 NM (7,310 km)	3,950 NM (7,310 km)	6,720 NM (12,435 km)	7,240 NM (13,408 km)
Max cruise speed	0.88 Mach (587 mph, 945 km/h, 520 kn)
Typical cruise speed	0.82 Mach (544 mph, 876 km/h, 473 kn)
Engines (3x)	Pratt & Whitney PW4460 - 60,000 lb_f (267 kN) PW4462 - _f (276 kN) General Electric CF6-80C2D1F - _f (274 kN)

Notes: *Heavy refers to aircraft with Extended Range option and aircraft with ER option without additional fuel tank. ER option available on all models. Standard refers to basic original configuration.
Sources:
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