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Aviatik
30th Jan 2001, 04:36
Anyone out there familiar with DC 10-30 ??
My company intends to operate de DC 10 this spring on flights across the atlantic.Being an all boeing twin operator till now, we have our doubts about the technical dispatch of the DC 10. 30 years ago it was a good aircraft, somehow ahead of its time.Now - this aircraft is 25 years old - we are concerned of its technical reliability.
Any pilot or operator familiar with the percentage of AOG of this aircraft ?
Thanks.

Engineer
31st Jan 2001, 05:18
The 10 is still a realiable aircraft if it is maintained well then it will fly well as can be said for any aeroplane

You will enjoy flying the 10 it is a nice aircraft IMHO :) :) :)

As a matter of interest where are you flying from and to




[This message has been edited by Engineer (edited 31 January 2001).]

DCDriver
8th Feb 2001, 22:38
Aviatik,
Dispatch reliability, as you will appreciate, depends on good maintenance in the first place; even a new a/c will soon go AOG if not cared for.
The DC10 has a solid airframe and (relatively) uncomplicated systems, usually in triplicate . Provided your particular a/c has a "good" history, and your company is prepared to give it some TLC on its maintenance downtime, the reliability should be no worse than the twins.
Spares are expensive...a few operators have bought most of the world's stock, so parts are available but at a price. Consider this scenario :
The maintenance organisation is unwilling to pay the quoted price & hopes to find a cheaper part elsewhere. This takes time. Meanwhile the a/c is operating a week or more in accordance with the MEL with (typically) one system locked out,increasing the workload on the other 2 ; finally one of the remaining 2 systems might fail (this usually happens at the most remote airfield on the network). The resulting AOG costs many times the price of the spare originally required!
The MEL was never intended to permit continuous day-to-day operation on 2 of 3 systems, which short-sighted companies today increasingly believe they can get away with, and so IMHO this is not the aircraft's fault!

I've been on the '10 for many years and I still love it...Enjoy a real pilot's classic!
DCD

Avman
9th Feb 2001, 01:41
Northwest Airlines operate a large fleet of antiquated high-time DC-10s over the ocean pretty successfully. Try and talk to their crews.

Aviatik
9th Feb 2001, 03:37
ENGINEER ; From AMS to the Caribean and South America.The 10 is from SKYJET ( Belgium) and been with AOM ( France)
DCDriver and Avman, thanks for the info.