MD11 F - Despatching
 

anyone here can give me a 'crash course' in the basics of despatching a MD11F ?. Payload is 80-90 tons ?
How many pos / config ?

Any help appreciated.

Rgds

Cressidom:

26 x 125/96 or 125/88 on the upperdeck. 24 twin-row positions, and 2 in the back. Can load AMJ side-by-side.
6 x 125/96 or 125/88 in the forward lower
4 x 125/88 in the centre (aft), alternatively 14 x LD3 or 7 x LD11 (or a mix thereof).

Around 80-85 tons on a bog-standard Westbound transatlantic seems to be around average, 85-90 going back East.

Can be a bit of a bitch to trim, especially at low weights. It's got a rather strange envelope, which is very narrow at lower weights. You trim for ZFW only, the onboard 'puter will !!!! around with the fuel for TOW and LAW. You may have 2 versions, one with and one without the tail tank. Took us a bit of effort, but finally got it sussed so now have only one version with or without tail tank. Fuel burn curve is a thing of wonder, and has proved impossible to model in our (rather fancy if I may add) W&B program. Just modelling the way the tanks are filled caused more hair loss than I care to think of.

Be very careful when loading/unloading as the beast has a tendancy to sit on its tail if you get it wrong. Very important to empty centre (aft) first, leaving forward and upper loaded. Reverse for loading; i.e. very important to load fwd lower first, then upper, then centre (aft).