UPS MD-11 crash at SDF

mikecweb said:
Clearly those that Fly(flew) this airplane have an affinity for it, I guess I never realized there were so many hatters of it as well.
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What is it about the MD-11 that generates the loyalty? What (besides not having a commode in the cockpit) do you, @A300Capt and others love? The quirkiness of it such that it may exist? Simple defending of a maligned airplane? Not asking for a full pirep on the airplane but that would be kinda great.
 
WacoFan said:
What is it about the MD-11 that generates the loyalty? What (besides not having a commode in the cockpit) do you, @A300Capt and others love? The quirkiness of it such that it may exist? Simple defending of a maligned airplane? Not asking for a full pirep on the airplane but that would be kinda great.
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Well, huh, might as, might as well ask why is a tree good? Why is the sunset good? Why are boobs good?

I dont even fly the thing and think it's pretty neat.

With that said the KC-130 is the greatest aircraft every built. Not you J-model.
*next to the A-10(dont tell anyone I said that part)
 
WacoFan said:
What is it about the MD-11 that generates the loyalty? What (besides not having a commode in the cockpit) do you, @A300Capt and others love? The quirkiness of it such that it may exist? Simple defending of a maligned airplane? Not asking for a full pirep on the airplane but that would be kinda great.
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I flew the B727, B76/75, A300 and finally the MD before retirement. Of all those the MD, by far….was my favorite. Why? Many reasons but to be honest I got very complacent and bored with the other jets. While initially they all were great, they all began to bore me and my inner ADHD was looking for something, ahhh…a little more challenging and the MD seemed to fit the bill. It didn’t look like anything else flying around today and I mean that in a good way. They only built 200 of them so the fraternity of members who had flown it was quite small and that intrigued me too.

My first few days in the sim I knew it was gonna be a challenge and I actually thought I had bitten off more than I could chew. It was becoming a blow to my ego and I was beginning to have serious doubts which I hadn’t had in a really long time. Even though my sim instructor kept saying we were doing just fine and it was a very relaxed training environment, I felt waaay out of my comfort zone. My first IOE trip was a 3am SDF-CGN departure. We get to Cologne and the wind is howling. My IOE instructor, bless his heart…says, “Hey Bill, how about I do this landing and you can take the Dubai leg?” No argument from me…knock yourself out! He wrestled that beast of an machine all the way down final and into the flare and landing. The power changes were so wild all the way down final I actually thought we were going around a few times only to have him quickly reduce power and continue the approach. The arrival was firm but safe. To this day I remember my first thought after landing was “What the h*ll have I gotten myself into…I seriously don’t know if I can do this?”

I really didn’t feel as comfortable in the MD the first 6 months as the other jets. My confidence was on somewhat shaky ground, my ego had been deflated and my attitude went from “I can handle anything thrown at me” to “Don’t “f’ing Nickleback” this landing or it’s gonna turtle on me and were all gonna die!” I guess all the horror stories had gotten to me. Fortunately, I was flying with really senior f/o’s with a lot of MD experience and who were very patient and taught me a lot. This was the first jet I had flown where I had less experience than most of the f/o’s I was flying with and that seemed very weird too.

Right around the 7-8 month point I finally woke up and told myself to snap out of it, it’s just an airplane…fly it like the other planes but just don’t get complacent. That’s when things took a major turn for the better. I quit being a passive spectator and became an active participant. My confidence grew exponentially, the blinders came off and I became much more confident. I learned its quirks and became comfortable just like in the other jets. Never allowed myself to become complacent but comfortable.

Now, to your question about what we liked about the MD…

-Domestic weights (which is most of what I flew) it was woefully overpowered and “Air show 1” departures were a real hoot!
-The system controllers did a great job of taking care of important stuff especially with non normals and emergencies. We’ll thought out!
-Quietest airplane I ever flew with a roomy cockpit. No real need for headsets in the cockpit to have a normal volume conversation and a smooth ride in turbulence (especially coming from the fat wing Airbus).
-Very smooth automation…way ahead if it’s time. B747 folks told me numerous times it was still better than the theirs.
-Normally, V1 cuts and two engine approaches were non events to hand fly and when autopilot coupled they were sleepers. It would autoland on 2 engines.
-Powerful braking. I knew if I could get it on the ground I could have it stopped pretty quick for as big as it was.
-Very heavy roll authority (think DC8) which I hated at first coming off the Boeings and Airbus became something I loved due to its hand flying stability.
-Unique look and beautiful lines and silhouette that always garnered positive comments from other crews more than other jets I flew.
-Never got tired of just looking at it and one of the relative few that got to fly it.
-it’s like they took all the good qualities I liked in the other jets and put them all in the MD.
- Biggest thing I enjoyed was that it required my “A game” all the time which I appreciated because it gave me a great sense of achievement every time I set the parking brake. I NEVER got complacent in the MD as I knew it could rise up and smite thee at a moments notice. If you flew it professionally it made you look good. Have a bad day or get lazy and it would slap you.
 
I couldn't have said it better than @A300Capt, the brown pants are better with englishing.

I've mostly flown business jets and a little over a year on the 747-400/-8/-LCF. It is by far my favorite, which any that know me is not a shock. The automation is truly ahead of it's time. When all systems are functioning, which happens 90%(ok maybe 75%) of the time it truly does everything, but you still need to be a pilot to fly it! I think that mix is what makes it so appealing. Look at what this amazing machine can do, now prove you can still fly an airplane because on the challenging days it'll make you bring your A-Game. The MD(DC)-10-30 had the best pure handling qualities of any airplane i've ever touched. The MD-11 just added a ton of power and slightly less stable. It's also the first airplane I've flown where I had to look at the CG to determine what kind of airplane i had that day. 20.0 and >450k lbs, give me a 30kt cross and watch the magic happen. >30.0 CG and less than 400k lbs, hang on and watch the show. And everything in between was unique and different.

I got into this career to fly this airplane. After I park my last one (hopefully that hasn't already happened), this job will just be about the money and trying to extract the most with the least amount of block hours.

It is special. And those that have never flown it will never truly understand, they'll kinda chuckle and say yea yea uh huh, just another airplane. It's not. It's better than special. I'll miss it greatly.
 
It sounds like y'all have a real love for the airplane, with the challenge being a key driver, along with flying qualities. I posted the Waco "freighter" as a joke but it may be the only thing you'd like when they replace the MD. They have wonderful flying qualities and landing them - particularly in strong crosswinds - definitely requires you to be on your A-game!
 
To echo @mikecweb , you hit the nail on the head @A300Capt .
It's the best cargo plane there is because no matter how long the flight or what side of the clock you're on you always wake up to get her back on the ground. No amount of coffee or red bull can compete with the focus and adrenaline spike when it's time to land and I mean that in the best of ways.
 
It's the strangest feeling right now. On the one hand I had the worst Nov-Dec schedule I've ever had since being at purple and now I'm off for the rest of the year and get to be home with family for the holidays which is amazing. On the other hand I find I'm quite melancholy to have my plane taken away, possibly forever. I wasn't ready to be done with the MD and certainly not under these circumstances. Feels somewhat childish and absurd but it's how I feel nonetheless.
 
Sad news at WGA


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Brian29 said:
I wasn't ready to be done with the MD and certainly not under these circumstances. Feels somewhat childish and absurd but it's how I feel nonetheless.
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The circumstances were far less tragic but I eventually lost my ride when the Hawker 4000 was orphaned. It’s disappointing when you lose a plane you like.
 
Boris Badenov said:
You could go to work at Talon!
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That doesn’t sound like fun.

I think they are down to one and manage a couple owned by the Israeli billionaire (Setai) that are lightly flown.

That said, with in-house maintenance, I can see how they might still be doing okay with the 4000. I think FSI still operates a 4000 sim.
 
DE727UPS said:
Note the shrapnel falling from the sky at about the :30 second mark. Video is off the gate at the end of the runway and the road that is just past the runway. Probably what caused the center engine to compressor stall. Then the CFR truck has a hard time getting out the gate at 5:30 mark.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCfrgeQa_BI
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Is that shrapnel or just general crud/litter/brush being blown around?
 
DE727UPS said:
Note the shrapnel falling from the sky at about the :30 second mark. Video is off the gate at the end of the runway and the road that is just past the runway. Probably what caused the center engine to compressor stall. Then the CFR truck has a hard time getting out the gate at 5:30 mark.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCfrgeQa_BI
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Rescue 46 running single-firefighter, driver-operator only. Curious what the shift manning is at SDF civilian side fire rescue.
 
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