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FedEx Express retires world's last MD-10-10 freighter jet
MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE — FedEx Express retired its last, and also the world's last, MD-10-10F on June 4, 2021. The 43.6-year-old aircraft with registration N562FE (MSN 46496) operated in a passenger configuration by American Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines before being converted into a freighter for FedEx in 2004. (www.airlinerwatch.com) More...Sort type: [Top] [Newest]
useful life of over 43 years is a tribute to the folks who assembled her. The value judgment on not spending so much money to continue service is a sad fact of life. It flew just fine up until they closed the flight logs and said "that's all folks"
Would suggest that a tribute to those that designed her is also in order. The history of the "DC-10" and the race with sleeker Lockheed Tri-Star was an interesting one from the marketing and engineering perspectives. Hope she enjoys her time in the sun and that FedEx finds a spot for her in the form of a donation.
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AA191 was a completely MX inspired event and was detailed in the NTSB full report. Don't gas light that as a design flaw cause, or even a factor. It ain't in the script.
It DEFINITELY was a design flaw and a cheaped out tri-engine compared to the 1011.
If it was a design flaw, it was the design of the stupid mechanics that weren't following MD maintenance procedures. I've read that report, and it is a condemnation of cheap maintenance procedures. American 'cut corners', and had dome it REPEATEDLY, and knew, or damn well should have known that it was a stupid move. They found other planes with similar damage!!! The only way I could see it was a design flaw was if, in the correct process for a swap, it took a week, and this 'cheat' took days/hours. Then MD should have addressed that somehow, but maybe they had tried to shorten the process, and hadn't found a SAFE way to do it.
That accident was all on the management and maintenance people of American Airlines at the time. They cut corners, and 273 people paid for it...
That accident was all on the management and maintenance people of American Airlines at the time. They cut corners, and 273 people paid for it...
See my reply to James Simms below. Again, don't confuse the CAUSE of AA 191 event with the underlying root problem that allowed it to become the deadly result that it was.
Yep, I agree.
Both accidents were not caused by design. Both were caused by human error. Everyone knows that American Airlines AA191 was cause by American mechanics taking short cuts when replacing engines to save on MONEY! United was cause by a faulty fan blade that was defective at production and was never detected " AGAIN " by united mechanics. This 40 year old FED EX DC-10 is a true testament to how good the design is. I flew on many DC-10's after both accidents and always felt more confident and at ease on the DC-10 then flying on any other airplane and i have flown many.