The McDonnell Douglas MD-11 is a long-range, wide-body trijet developed as the successor to the DC-10. It was designed to offer better performance, longer range, and more efficient systems than its predecessor—while keeping the same general layout: three engines, two on the wings and one at the base of the vertical stabilizer.

✈️ Overview:

• Role: Long-haul passenger and cargo airliner
• Manufacturer: McDonnell Douglas (later Boeing after 1997)
• First flight: January 10, 1990
• Introduced: December 1990 (Finnair)
• Production ended: 2000
• Total built: 200 aircraft

🛠️ Key Specs (MD-11F variant for cargo):

• Engines: 3 × General Electric CF6-80C2 or Pratt & Whitney PW4000
• Cruise speed: Mach 0.83 (~485 knots / 560 mph / 903 km/h)
• Range: MD-11 (passenger): ~7,240 nautical miles (13,410 km) MD-11F (freighter): ~3,800–6,700 nm depending on payload
  • MD-11 (passenger): ~7,240 nautical miles (13,410 km)
  • MD-11F (freighter): ~3,800–6,700 nm depending on payload
• Passenger capacity: ~293–293 in 3-class layout (max ~410 in all-economy)
• Crew: 2 (glass cockpit eliminated need for flight engineer)
• Length: 61.2 m (200 ft 10 in)
• Wingspan: 51.7 m (169 ft 6 in)

🔍 Design Features:

• Glass cockpit – Advanced for its time, fully digital flight deck (no flight engineer)
• Winglets – For improved aerodynamics and fuel efficiency
• Advanced flight management system (FMS) – Early adoption of fly-by-wire-like automation (not full FBW)
• Stretched fuselage – Compared to the DC-10 for more capacity
• Updated avionics, electrical systems, and materials

🛫 Use Cases:

• Designed for long-haul international routes
• Used in passenger, combi, and freight configurations
• Now almost exclusively a freighter – beloved by cargo airlines

📦 Major Operators (Freight):

• FedEx Express – Largest MD-11 operator
• UPS Airlines
• Western Global Airlines
• Lufthansa Cargo (retired recently)
• KLM, Swissair, and Delta were among the major former passenger operators

✅ Strengths:

• Long range and good cargo capacity
• Efficient for its time
• Capable of operating at airports with limited ground infrastructure
• Trijet design offered redundancy for long overwater flights before ETOPS expanded

❌ Weaknesses:

• Not as fuel-efficient as twinjets like the Boeing 777 or A330
• Handling quirks – Had a reputation for being tricky to land, especially at max landing weight
• Entered service just as the aviation world was shifting to twin-engine long-haul jets

🪦 Legacy:

• Passenger variants retired by most airlines by the early 2010s
• Still flying today as freighters, though many are being phased out gradually
• The MD-11 was the last trijet airliner ever built and marked the end of the DC-10 lineage
• Its production and development directly overlapped with McDonnell Douglas's merger into Boeing

The MD-11 is often remembered with mixed emotions—praised for its performance and versatility, but also criticized for not living up to its promised specs early on. Still, in the cargo world, it earned serious respect and is still hauling big loads globally.