So on a relatively calm day, facing a very long runway, one of the best trained MD-11 crews landed, bounced twice, and that was enough to cause the aircraft to suffer catastrophic structural failure? I appreciate we haven't got any G-force readings, so impossible to determine how hard they touched down, but still, something doesn't sound quite right.
Is the MD-11, besides being not that easy to land, exceedingly damage intolerant? Or, rather, damage intolerant when subjected to a "hard" landing?
The MD-11 is a fine airplane which require no special handling skills. However it has characteristics which an MD-11 trained pilot can best handle, ie it needs to be flown as an MD-11 and not as any other wide bodies.
As far as I remember, Riyadh is a hot and high altitude airport. I had to reject a few landings which could not be salvaged when the PFs ( f/os, trainee captains )failed to recognise dangerously high sink rates prior to landing.
Temperature inversion is normally not a big factor in botched landings, but a huge on during take offs.