McDonnell Douglas DC-10
The McDonnell Douglas DC-10 is a wide-body 3 engine aircraft for medium to long haul flights. Manufactured by McDonnell Douglas from 1970 to 1989, it has a distinctive look thanks to the 3rd engine mounted in the tail.
In 1965, American Airlines requested a commercial jet that was smaller than the 747 but could operate similarly long routes. While theoretically providing competition for Boeing, the DC-10 had a series of engineering mishaps that sealed its fate and kept its sales, and popularity, significantly lower than the famous Boeing jets.
McDonnell Douglas sold 389 passenger versions and 60 tanker versions to the military. What held the plane back from becoming as popular as other jets? First, an engineering flaw related to the locking mechanisms on the cargo doors caused de-pressurization incidents. Secondly, as big jets gained popularity in the 70’s, more and more people were travelling, and issues across the airlines began popping up. Issues such as maintenance, engine technology issues, and other items that were less a distinct flaw of the DC-10 and more a consequence of new technology not being tested thoroughly. Lastly, the DC-10 was a victim of publicity – the mounting issues combined with the bad news around the plane left a bad taste in everyone’s mouth, even if the plane was not always at fault.
Events with the DC-10
The cargo door : cargo doors that open outward leave more room for cargo, but require complicated locking mechanisms. The locks on the DC-10 cargo door were not strong enough to handle some pressurization situations, and began failing, allowing the door to rip off the plane, leading to depressurization of the aircraft. This first occurred in 1972 on American Airlines 96, whose cargo door blew open after taking off from Detroit. The explosion decompression ripped out part of the passenger deck floor, which ripped through control cables, making the plane nearly impossible to fly. The flight landed safely with no loss of life, however. Two years later in 1974, Turkish Airlines 981 suffered a similar explosive decompression due to the cargo door not being sealed properly, and crashed after taking off from Paris, killing all 346 people on board.
Another engineering issue : In 1979, American Airlines 191 lifted off from Chicago, and its engine and pylon ripped off the wing, cutting hydraulic cables and causing the uncontrollable plane to crash seconds later, killing 271 people. This accident was caught on camera, which made it a much bigger deal than previous incidents. In people’s minds, the DC-10 was a cursed plane. The cause of the engine falling off was found to be faulty maintenance by American Airlines, but the engineering prolbme was that when the engine fell off, it cut the primary AND backup systems, which should not have all been in the same place. It also showcased other minor engineering fails on McDonnell Douglas’ part, such as not having locks on leading edge slats (the slats should be locked on takeoff, even if the primary and backup systems fail – if they had remain locked, the wing would not have lost as much lift, and the pilots could’ve had a chance to right the plane). The FAA grounded all DC-10s after this issue, again putting a black mark on the aircraft in the public view.
Similar problems : In 1989, United Airlines 232 had a uncontained fan disk failure – parts of the tail engine blew up, again ripping out primary and backup control systems. Although neither United nor McDonnell Douglas was found to be at fault for the disk failure, it illuminated the problem of poor design within the DC-10 – losing primary and backup systems at the same time was considered impossible, so it was not taken into account properly in the design phase. The pilots managed to crash land the damaged plane on a runway but 111 people still died.
Aside from these main tragedies in public eye, there were numerous other incidents which combined to put a dark cloud over the DC-10. In 1973, National Airlines 27 suffered an engine failure – some exploding parts of the engine ruptured a window and a passenger was sucked out. In 1979, New Zealand 901, a special Antarctic sightseeing flight, crashed into Mount Erebus due to poor weather and guidance issues, killing all 257 people.
Some say the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 was unfairly trashed in the media, and that all airliners have had issues or high-publicity crashes. The DC-10 definitely had those, and along with the rapidly progressing engineering advances from competitors like Boeing, the plane not only gained a bad reputation among fliers but was soon outclassed by newer planes.
