EI MD11

lord lucan

This just appeared in my Youtube stream,certainly brightened up my day.:)

christy c

They are a beautiful aircraft, had been looking on YouTube before for a video of the Aer Lingus one but couldn't find it. Thanks

eastmayo

Did not no aer lingus had an md11...do they still use her.

peter1892

eastmayo wrote: »

Did not no aer lingus had an md11...do they still use her.

No...it was leased in from Wolrd Airways for a few years. Before that (mid 90's) they leased an L1011 from Caledonian:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/38016434@N05/3949032642/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24101413@N03/4498422938/

And apparently an L1011 from another airline:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/shanair/5782818017/

(none of those images are mine)

highlydebased

Love the MD11, a majestic looking aircraft.

Bearcat

Lovely to look at, a dog to fly. Tail is very tricky with limited authority. They are a b@stard to bounce. Some well known heavy landings .......with disastrous results like the LH in the desert in recent times.

They say its older brother the DC10 was a much better handler.

I like this vid though...http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hEAQMM75HAU

smurfjed

Bearcat, I assume that you are talking about this accident.

http://www.bfu-web.de/cln_030/nn_223936/EN/Publications/Investigation_20Report/2010/Report__10__2X003__MD11__Riyadh,templateId=raw,property=publicationFile.pdf/Report_10_2X003_MD11_Riyadh.pdf


smurfjed

GE90

MD11 is a beautiful looking aircraft and looks amazing in EI livery. Shame KLM are phasing out its MD11 pax services

Bearcat

smurfjed wrote: »

Bearcat, I assume that you are talking about this accident.

http://www.bfu-web.de/cln_030/nn_223936/EN/Publications/Investigation_20Report/2010/Report__10__2X003__MD11__Riyadh,templateId=raw,property=publicationFile.pdf/Report_10_2X003_MD11_Riyadh.pdf


smurfjed

Yeap, thanks Smurf.

Also if you look up you tube Finair MD11 go around at Kennedy it gives a good view of the cockpit plus some action.

As others said, a lovely aircraft to look out but it has run its course with the 330/777 now the market leaders.


Also lest we not forget http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_E._Fitch. And that terrible DC10 accident.....I think they re jigged the whole architecture of the MD11 hydraulic system based on the weaknesses of the DC10.

Seeing the MD11 retire is certainly the closing the door on one of the great airliners of its day.

dowlingm

The main issue with MD-11 as I recall was that McDonnell missed fuel burn projections by enough to cause ructions with the early customers, while at the same time ETOPS was becoming more accepted.

GE90

Id did have a tendency to crash when handled incorrectly during landing with many documented cases. It was very innovative when it came out with its centralized fault display system, full auto land system. It is a very highly automated aircraft.

It is the best looking commercial aircraft ever made imo. As bearcat said it has run its course, ETOPS is the big thing these days. It will live on with cargo operators for another while.

roundymac

Bearcat wrote: »

Lovely to look at, a dog to fly. Tail is very tricky with limited authority. They are a b@stard to bounce.
Fedex MD11 at Narita, very sad.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8OW4y3HC44

Bearcat

They look to have very poor slow speed characteristics.....what's their vref at high weights? Looks in the 150s

GE90

At 480,000 lb Flaps 35 Vref is 161kts, Flaps 50 Vref is 156 kts.

Vr at max take of weight is ~170 kts iirc

Bearcat

Your in the early 140s on a 340 heavy landing.....big difference to late 50s on the md. I think the word sporty comes to mind.

GE90

I remember reading that when designing the MD11 to save costs they just updated the existing dc10 wings. Pilots commented that when flying the MD11 it always felt that it had 100,000 lbs extra weight on board. The A340 has long sleek wings with relativity small flaps, where the MD11 has huge barn door flaps, at flaps 50 the trailing edge is very close to the ground ! They must be very inefficient compare to the A340.

donkey balls

My old company operates the biggest fleet of both the the DC10&MD11 prior to that we used B747F,Regarding fuel/ pay load the MD11 was more economical than the B747F on the same sectors flown.
Also I was told that the MD11 was the first aircraft to have the class cockpit installed we ended up taking out the old avionics on the DC10 and replacing them with the MD11 ones,The company has since bought B777F which again are more economical than the MD10/MD11 and carry more payload/positions, Also since cancelling the A380F order they have options for some A330F in the near future.
But as for the aul MD11 its a great aircraft to fly on especially seated in behind the skipper:D It is a pity that in the near future these lovely machines will be parked up in the desert somewhere like the 727 or else be flying around Africa/South America.

ohigg84

Aer Lingus also leased an L-1011 Tristar from American Trans Air (ATA) during late 80s, think it was 1989, and also in early 1990s, (1993 I think). I flew on it anyway.. One of the 747s was undergoing a D Check.