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Old 17th Oct 2012, 21:05
  #29 (permalink)  
777fly
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: uk
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I have to agree with doors to automatic on this subject. It is generally not pilot technique which, more frequently on DC10/MD11 than most types, ends with the landing gear pointing skywards.
I believe that this marque of aircraft has a design flaw which has its roots in the development competition between Douglas and Lockheed, in the 1960's, to get a trijet wide body jet into production. Lockheed were initially well ahead with their programme but Douglas, starting late, rushed their programme for the DC10 under the motto 'fly before they roll'. That philosophy has cost many lives since: The poorly designed cargo door and cabin pressure relief killed hundreds in Paris. Lack of hydraulic redundancy leads to Sioux City accident. Poor slat locking design kills hundreds in Chicago. Lack of development time leads to installation of No 2 engine as a 'straight through' design, robbing valuable area from the rudder. Consequence? The wing engines were mounted further inboard to retain adequate directional control. Consequence of that? A wing gear collapse on landing results in the wingtip digging into the landing surface. Wing breaks, aircraft rolls inverted. QED. That does not happen when the engines are further outboard, as on L1011,B777, etc, as they prevent excess roll when they contact the ground.
I flew both DC10-30 and all Tristar (L1011) types. The former was a capable Ford, the latter a Range Rover: an uneconomic engineering jewel.
It is certainly not fair to blame pilots for the engineering shortcomings of the DC10/MD11. This MD11crew was lucky, the wingtip seems to have skated on a hard surface and not damaged the wing.
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