"Are MD-10s/DC-10s equipped with auto slats".
Indeed they are; if you had bothered to read the whole thread then you would have picked up on that point.
The pillock who raised his highly qualified eyebrows and declared that the Fedex MD-11 take-off that he (supposedly witnessed) as highly dangerous
has no idea of which he talks.
I was an F/O with Laker when we suddenly got DC-10-30s (we already had DC-10-10s). I was one of the very first F/Os to get checked out on the new machine.
My last trip in the right seat on the DC-10 was with a new captain. We went from Gatwick to Heraklion in February in a Dash 30 with a full load of punters. Since it was the first flight of the "season" we were coming back empty.
It started to drizzle as we taxied out for take-off and Ivor said "It is raining so we must take-off at Ref Power". I tried to persuade him that this was not a good idea because:
a: we are empty
b: we are in a Dash 30
c: we should really be on max derate
His initial rate of climb was in excess of 8,500 fpm.
Since he was not trained to be in the Red Arrows, this took him somewhat by surprise!