Airline Is Last US DC-10 Operator For Passenger Service

Millions of passengers have been well-served by three-engine jumbo-jets in the US over the years. That's about to change as Northwest retires the last of its fleet of McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) DC-10 aircraft on January 8th.

The venerable aircraft have been in service for more than three decades. Introduced in 1971, the DC-10 competed with Boeing's much more successful 747, and Lockheed's much less successful L-1011.

The three jumbo jets made international travel a reality for many airlines. Their increased range and greater seating capacity made trans-oceanic travel economically feasible allowing airlines to add the routes.

The DC-10's typical 250 pax capacity at the time compared to the 747's 370 seats. That made it more attractive to serve smaller cities unable to justify the larger jet.

Air transport curator at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Bob van der Linden told USA Today, "The DC-10 introduced wide-body service to a lot more markets than did the 747."

The DC-10 managed to remain in service despite a number of high-profile crashes -- six in the 1970s alone. Those six accidents claimed nearly 1000 lives.

Almost all of the accidents were deemed related to its operation and maintenance procedures. Only one, a Turkish Airlines flight departing Paris, was design related. The crew lost control of the aircraft when its rear cargo door blew out -- the crash killed 345.

Another high-profile crash in 1979 at Chicago had the biggest negative impact on the aircraft's reputation. A flawed maintenance procedure resulted in the left-wing engine departing the aircraft on its takeoff roll. The aircraft was airborne only briefly because the engine took the wing's control surfaces with it. The aircraft rolled inverted before crashing and killing 273.

The FAA administrator grounded the entire fleet (despite the known cause) amid media speculation that passengers would never again fly on a DC-10.

Of course, those predictions proved false. McDonnell Douglas did a masterful job of explaining the problem to the public. Add to that the plane's inherent qualities and passengers were back aboard with all thoughts of Chicago if not forgotten, at least ignored.

The plane was also involved in what could be arguably described as the most famous jetliner crash of all time: United Flight 232 at Souix City, IA when Captain Al Haynes (pictured below) managed to crash land a DC-10 with no flight controls.

When the aircraft's fuselage-mounted engine self-destructed pieces of shrapnel hit supply lines for all three hydraulic systems. As the fluid for those systems depleted, all the aircraft's hydraulically-actuated control surfaces were effectively locked.

Haynes and his crew including a pilot riding standby kept the aircraft under tenuous control by varying thrust on the wing engines -- they were only able to make turns in one direction and couldn't slow to normal landing speed. Unfortunately, they were unable to keep the aircraft level on the landing. Of the 296 people aboard 111 survived; many safety experts credited the plane's sturdy design with saving them.

DC-10s will continue in service throughout the world in a variety of rolls. Of the 446 built, 170 are still flying -- most as freight haulers. Sixty serve as aerial refueling tankers for the US Air Force.

FMI: www.boeing.com, www.nwa.com