chornedsnorkack
9th Apr 2008, 10:53
There are four longhaul planes with rather similar length and MTOW: B777-200ER with 2 engines, A340-300 and Il-96-400 with 4 engines and MD-11 with 3 engines.
Which of them is best?
Wing size:
MD11 - 51,7 m span, 339 sq m area
A340 - 60,3 m span, 362 sq m area
Il-96 - 60,1 m span, 392 sq m area
B-777 - 60,9 m span, 428 sq m area.
I have seen accusations that MD-11 is hard to handle.
The grounds:
the small wing leads to high wing loading
this combined to allegedly comparatively feeble high-lift devices leads to high takeoff and approach speeds
small tailplane and rear CoG is allegedly liable to cause poor stability, such that MD-11 is liable to accidents due to botched high-speed approaches.
Is there any truth to this?
Having a look at crash records...
MD-11 has lost 3 frames through botched approaches:
Fedex Flight 14 in Newark, 1997
China Airlines Flight 642 in Hong Kong, 1999
Fedex Flight 87 in Subic Bay, 1999
A340-300 has had 1 botched approach - AF A340 in Toronto, 2005.
Il-96 has no crashes at all, and the only 777 crash (BA in Heathrow) was due to double engine failure well up in air.
Could it be that the airframe design of MD-11 makes it liable to bad landings? Or are those 3 (and lack of similar accidents with 777) a mere coincidence?
Which of them is best?
Wing size:
MD11 - 51,7 m span, 339 sq m area
A340 - 60,3 m span, 362 sq m area
Il-96 - 60,1 m span, 392 sq m area
B-777 - 60,9 m span, 428 sq m area.
I have seen accusations that MD-11 is hard to handle.
The grounds:
the small wing leads to high wing loading
this combined to allegedly comparatively feeble high-lift devices leads to high takeoff and approach speeds
small tailplane and rear CoG is allegedly liable to cause poor stability, such that MD-11 is liable to accidents due to botched high-speed approaches.
Is there any truth to this?
Having a look at crash records...
MD-11 has lost 3 frames through botched approaches:
Fedex Flight 14 in Newark, 1997
China Airlines Flight 642 in Hong Kong, 1999
Fedex Flight 87 in Subic Bay, 1999
A340-300 has had 1 botched approach - AF A340 in Toronto, 2005.
Il-96 has no crashes at all, and the only 777 crash (BA in Heathrow) was due to double engine failure well up in air.
Could it be that the airframe design of MD-11 makes it liable to bad landings? Or are those 3 (and lack of similar accidents with 777) a mere coincidence?