A
A year later, as several
airlines had committed
to the MD-11, the
situation was looking
optimistic. The aircraft
was now a 320-seater
baseline and defined as
an 18 ft 7 in (5.66 m) stretch over the
DC-10-30 powered by the new
advanced turbofans offered by the
major engine manufacturers and giving
it a range of 6,800 nautical miles
(12,600 km).
EVA Air Car go MD-11F
Other versions, such as a shortened ER with a range of 7,500 nautical miles (13,900 km),
an all-cargo offering a maximum payload of 200,970 pounds (91,160 kg) and a Combi
with a provision for ten freight pallets on the main deck, were proposed. Further growth
of the aircraft was also foreseen, such as the MD-11 Advanced.
The lack of innovation from McDonnell Douglas during the MD-11's design had been
attributed to the company's declining cash flow, as it struggled with problems with its
military contracts and declining orders for its commercial jets.
Limited company resources resulting in the MD-11 being developed as a refinement of
the existing DC-10, in contrast to rivals Airbus and Boeing who during this time period
developed all-new aircraft designs that would become the Airbus A330/A340 and
Boeing 777.
As a trijet the MD-11 was less fuel-efficient but had a greater range than its mid-size
widebody contemporaries which were twinjets, the existing Boeing 767 and upcoming
Airbus A330.
Aerospace consultant Scott Hamilton, in a 2014 article, said that the MD-11 was
"classically ill-timed" as "it came at the end of the three- or four-engine era, just ahead of
the real move to ETOPS with the 777".
MD 11
July 2017
www.alliance-airways.net
2 ! 8