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Old 26th Aug 2015, 11:24
  #353 (permalink)  
Courtney Mil
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Southern Europe
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Ken, you harvested only one aspect of the Wall Sreet Journal's article. This bit may be more appropriate:

The board's letter highlights the continuing safety controversy over the three-engine plane 24 years after McDonnell Douglas introduced it into service, promising that computerized flight controls would offer a big safety advance.

Instead, the MD-11 was beset by a series of problems, including particularly sensitive controls at low and high altitudes; a tendency for pilots to smack the plane's tail on the runway during takeoffs; and persistent landing accidents.

Boeing has implemented a number of software upgrades and pilot manual changes since it bought McDonnell Douglas. Starting in the late 1990s, the MD-11 gained a reputation as an unforgiving airplane with finicky handling that can make it particularly hard to land.
If you think that's not a safety issue then perhaps it's better to say that the aircraft had serious design flaws that made it crap to land without significant flight restrictions imposed on the crews. But, that couldn't possibly be the case. As a company man, I doubt you'd agree with that.
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