DC-10 'Final international flight'

[Turbodiesel1976]

Always thought of these as deathtraps, end of an era

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-26...

[Eric Mc]

They had a bad period in their early years of service but went on to provide decent reliable service.

[brenflys777]

Turbodiesel1976 said:

Always thought of these as deathtraps, end of an era

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-26...

Still hold the nickname dc10 - 'death cruiser' and it's replacement MD11 as 'more death 2'.. not entirely unwarranted either unfortunately.

[Ali Chappussy]

It was rumoured recently that the aircraft will return to Bangladesh and re enter service which makes the claim about the very last passenger flights a load of old twoddle.

I've also heard it's off to the states or, again, back to Bangladesh for scrapping.

[IanMorewood]

35 Passengers, how can they afford to run a plane on those numbers?

[Eric Mc]

Not every flight made by an airline will be individually profitable. These are a set of final flights aimed at enthusiasts so profit will not be the main aim. It's not that unusual for the last few passenger flights of an airliner to be run on this basis.

[24lemons]

I wonder what will happen to it now? Imagine if you stripped out the interior and parked it in a corner somewhere, you could probably live in it...........









............

[Mojocvh]

brenflys777 said:

Turbodiesel1976 said:

Always thought of these as deathtraps, end of an era

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-26...

Still hold the nickname dc10 - 'death cruiser' and it's replacement MD11 as 'more death 2'.. not entirely unwarranted either unfortunately.

http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/unusual-attitude...

Edited by Mojocvh on Saturday 22 February 15:53

[perdu]

It flew over my house and landed a few minutes later at BHX. (1650 ish)

Whatever "they" say about it, that was an impressive piece of architecture in the sky above me.

Well noisy too.

[Mishima]

Went on the midday flight today, over North and Mid Wales; really enjoyed it. People from all over the place, real aviation fanatics. We were accompanied part of the time by a twin turbo prop Beech filming us, kept really close in synch with the DC10.
Plane felt really powerful on take off and not all that noisy; interior is cramped and looked really 70s and quite shabby. So different from normal flights - the passengers didn't want to get off and were photographing every square inch of the plane.
I read that it's going back to Bangladesh for scrap.I suppose you could say the the DC10 era really ended a long time ago but it was a great experience and a brilliant day.

[Hooli]

24lemons said:

I wonder what will happen to it now? Imagine if you stripped out the interior and parked it in a corner somewhere, you could probably live in it...........









............

That's an idea

[MitchT]

BBC article: "Was the DC10 unfairly maligned?"

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-26...

BBC article said:

Plane enthusiast Gordon Stretch, from Solihull, travelled to Dhaka to travel on the Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight.

He pointed out that, of 446 DC-10 aircraft built, a relatively small number were involved in fatal crashes.

"There have been high-profile crashes for every type of aircraft," he said.

"They only built 20 Concordes and one of those crashed."

Ironic comparison to make there. Anyone remember what the first event was in the chain that led to the Concorde crash?

Edited by MitchT on Monday 24th February 13:04

[Composite Guru]

I was 8 when this happened at the end of Malaga Runway. It happened the day before i was due to fly home and i still have vivid memories of that day.
http://ctgr8guy.wordpress.com/2013/08/24/the-day-t...

Since then i actually became an Airframe/ Engine Technician for Monarch Airlines and they actually had a DC10 on loan. The thing was a beast and not at all like the Airbus and Boeing examples i was used to working on.

[Turbodiesel1976]

MitchT said:

BBC article: "Was the DC10 unfairly maligned?"

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-26...

BBC article said:

Plane enthusiast Gordon Stretch, from Solihull, travelled to Dhaka to travel on the Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight.

He pointed out that, of 446 DC-10 aircraft built, a relatively small number were involved in fatal crashes.

"There have been high-profile crashes for every type of aircraft," he said.

"They only built 20 Concordes and one of those crashed."

Ironic comparison to make there. Anyone remember what the first event was in the chain that led to the Concorde crash?

Edited by MitchT on Monday 24th February 13:04

Yep - a sliver of metal from a bloody DC-10!

[TomJackUK]

My old man used to fly the the DC-10 for Monarch and then MyTravel. I went up on the flight deck quite often and loved the experience.

[Eric Mc]

They had magnificent cockpit windows - much better than those of a 747.

[TTwiggy]

As a kid I got to visit the cockpit of an Air Florida DC-10 in flight. Was indeed a good view (first class was nice too!) *

• I had a relative who worked for Air Florida, so we managed to get seriously bumped up.

[ukzz4iroc]

Composite Guru said:

The thing was a beast and not at all like the Airbus and Boeing examples i was used to working on.

In what way? Interested to know.

My dad used to fly DC-10's for LAKER, loved them and much more space in the cockpit than the 747's he then went on to fly for SIA.

[pete]

Aha - that point about scenic flights solves my confusion. I watched her take off today as I was driving south on the M42, seemed like a lovely steep climb out for the old girl.

I only flew on a DC10 once, and that was with the short lived Cal Air charter brand of British Caledonian. It was my first ever long haul flight, in fact, so the DC10 holds a special place in my aviation memories.

[robdsn]

My shot of the old girl powering off Runway 15 on Saturday afternoon.