Goodby DC-10

I have a DC-10 story - we were on our way to Seattle for a camping trip, flying United Air Lines out of Denver. We had an engine malfunction & had to dump fuel over the Rockies (nice ecological touch) & return to Denver. At the time you could listen to the pilot talking to the tower on the built-in sound system that carried movie & entertainment audio. We knew we had turned around because my son had his compass for the camping trip & was using it to check our direction. Also he was listening to the pilots conversation & there was a lot of discussion before the passengers were informed. They announced that everything was fine, but when we landed they had a LOT of fire equipment lined up on both sides of the runway & the conversation with the tower (before they finally decided to cut it off) was not the same story they were telling the passengers. They had been discussing the fact that we were losing altitude so fast that we could be below Denver before we got there! Although I liked the DC-10 for comfort, it didn't have the best reputation for safety. I think it was a DC-10 that lost (literally) an engine on take-off from O'Hare & crashed. Our incident was in 1974, I think - I remember watching Nixon's resignation speech in the airport at Denver while waiting for our connection.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(tleonhar @ Jan 5 2007, 06:12 PM) [snapback]371599[/snapback]</div>

American Airlines retired the last of its MD-11 aircraft by 2002, only two years after taking the DC-10 out of service. The MD-11 place in the AA fleet was taken over by the Boeing 777.

That is impossible unless you have a time travel machine. If the flight took two hours, the local time at MSP at upon your arrival was four hours later than the local time at LAX at the time of your departure. That is because at the time that you left LAX the local time at MSP was already two hour later than the local time at LAX at that same moment because MSP is at GMT-6 and LAX is at GMT-8. Now, if you were traveling in the opposite direction your story would be plausible.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Grandma Judy @ Jan 5 2007, 06:27 PM) [snapback]371607[/snapback]</div>

The DC-10 had one of the sorriest safety records in aviation history.

Fatal McDonnell Douglas DC10 Events

Aviation Safety Network - DC-10 Statistics

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Grandma Judy @ Jan 5 2007, 08:27 PM) [snapback]371607[/snapback]</div>

Maybe it is not fair to blame the DC-10, but Northwest turned them into very uncomfortable beasts. Last year I flew to Europe on a NWA DC10 and back on an Airbus. The Airbus had much more storage room and so on the DC 10 anyone boarding after the plane was half full was completely out of luck finding storage for bags. I am glad NWA is retiring these planes.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(tleonhar @ Jan 6 2007, 06:50 PM) [snapback]371911[/snapback]</div>

The MD-11 did not deliver the performance guarantees (namely, range and fuel burn rate) made by McDonnell Douglas.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(tleonhar @ Jan 6 2007, 08:50 PM) [snapback]371911[/snapback]</div>

Today's local paper covered this as well. Apparently the pilots found them comfortable and with a good view out the windows. The coverage of passengers indicated that they liked the 2 x 5 x 2 seating (two aisles with 5 seats in the center) - apparently having 2 aisles vs one. I found flying in the middle seat of 5 to be bad. To get out to a bathroom you had go over 2 people in either direction. At least in a standard plane if you were on a window seat and had two people on one side, the other side had no people and something to rest your head upon.

Every once in a while I get bumped up to business and one time first class. Now if all the seats on the plane were like those ......

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Cam @ Jan 7 2007, 10:32 AM) [snapback]372103[/snapback]</div>

Take a look at American Airlines 777 FlagShip Suite.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(tleonhar @ Jan 5 2007, 09:12 PM) [snapback]371599[/snapback]</div>

I flew out of Chicago O'Hare on a DC-10 right after they were un-grounded. As we banked on the climb-out, I could see the big black scorch mark where the grass had been burned from the crash that caused them to be grounded in the first place. :blink:

Tom

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(tleonhar @ Jan 8 2007, 04:41 PM) [snapback]372688[/snapback]</div>

Cool, thanks for posting these. I forwarded them on to a friend who was the ground ops chief at Seatac for NWA before he retired in 1992.

The DC-10 was a fantastic aircraft. Pilots loved it. I flew SEA-KIX a few times and always had a good trip. Even bumpy weather was OK on the 10, it was a very stable aircraft. MUCH better than those A330 pieces of junk. I'll never fly those. I fly United 777's now to Japan from Seattle. Now THERE is a great aircraft if there ever was one.

Dave

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(DaveLeePrius @ Jan 8 2007, 05:04 PM) [snapback]372706[/snapback]</div>

As I'm fond of saying, "If it's not a Boeing, I'm not going."

 

Back in 1978-1981 I worked for McDonnell Douglas at the big plant in Long Beach. To encourage employees to help advertize the DC-10 they had special bumper stickers. My suitcase was easy to identify at the baggage carousel with its big sticker saying:

DC-10
I Fly What I Build

 

The day Boeing gobbled up McDonnell Douglas was a sad day in aviation history; on that day the competition between the two great U.S. airliner manufacturers came to an end.

I used to have this old map, from the 1950's, which showed were the stars lived in Hollywood...

...on it was also listed the residence of Donald Douglas Sr.

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"Your first trip aboard a new Boeing jet airliner -- a 'pure' jet -- will be one of the highlights of your life. The front of the cabin is absolutely quiet; the rear has the hushed ambiance of an exclusive club.

You'll cruise through high, weatherless skies, and feel so little vibration that you'll be able to balance a coin on its edge. The flower you bought when you departed will be fresh when you arrive, for the 707 will carry you across a continent or an ocean in half the time required by a conventional airliner...

Travel in the new 707, you'll find, is fast and quiet. And secure. The 707 is the most thoroughly flight-tested aircraft ever to fly, and is built by Boeing, the company with more multi-jet experience than any other in the world."

---------------------------

Heady days, indeed...for ad copywriters, as well as airliner manufacturers.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(tleonhar @ Jan 8 2007, 08:46 PM) [snapback]372817[/snapback]</div>

Yes, I paraphrased from memory, though.

The 747 was indeed a better airplane, but the 707 was...well, the 707...

I'm way off topic now, but if y'all don't mind, here are a few interesting airliner images. Check out that last one, a digital composition of a proposed Boeing 'flying wing' airliner. Please don't mention where you saw it...

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