The Boeing MD-11,
nee McDonnell Douglas MD-11, was designed by
McDonnell Douglas as a replacement for the
DC-10, the company's only entry in the
widebody aircraft field. Physically, the MD-11 is only slightly different from the DC-10: it's about 19 feet longer, and has
winglets (the winglets being the only way to tell an MD-11 from a DC-10 at a glance). The first production MD-11 was delivered on
December 7, 1990 and is currently owned by
Gemini Air Cargo: the last was delivered in February 2001 and now flies freight for
Lufthansa. 200 were built in total.
Capacity: 285 passengers in three class configuration (24-57-204), 410 in economy class configuration
Range: Up to 13,230 km (8,225 mi)
Dry weight: 133,450 kg (294,200 lb)
Powerplant: Three Pratt & Whitney PW4460 engines or General Electric CF6-80C2
Major operators: Delta Airlines, FedEx, Varig, Swiss, China Airlines, Alitalia, Eva Air, KLM, Finnair, Lufthansa, Japan Airlines
Five of the 200 MD-11's produced have suffered hull loss accidents. They are:
- FedEx flight 14, Newark International Airport, July 31, 1997
- Swissair flight 111, Nova Scotia, September 2, 1998 (all 229 passengers and crew killed)
- Korean Air flight 6316 (cargo), Shanghai, April 15, 1999
- Mandarin Airlines flight 642, Chek Lap Kok, August 22, 1999 (incidentally, the airplane from the All your base are belong to us animation)
- FedEx flight 87, Subic Bay, October 17, 1999
In addition, the plane that crashed in the movie
Cast Away was a FedEx MD-11.