McDonnell Douglas DC-10
The McDonnell Douglas DC-10 is an American trijet wide-body aircraft manufactured by McDonnell Douglas.
The DC-10 was intended to succeed the DC-8 for long-range flights. It first flew on August 29, 1970; it was introduced on August 5, 1971, by American Airlines.
The trijet has two turbofans on underwing pylons and a third one at the base of the vertical stabilizer.
The twin-aisle layout has a typical seating for 270 in two classes.
The initial DC-10-10 had a range for transcontinental flights. The DC-10-15 had more powerful engines for hot and high airports. The DC-10-30 and –40 models each had intercontinental ranges of up to. The KC-10 Extender is a tanker aircraft that was primarily operated by the United States Air Force.
Early operations of the DC-10 were afflicted by its poor safety record, which was partially attributable to a design flaw in the original cargo doors that caused multiple incidents, including fatalities. Most notable was the crash of Turkish Airlines Flight 981 near Paris in 1974, the deadliest crash in aviation history up to that time. Following the crash of American Airlines Flight 191, the deadliest aviation accident in US history, the US Federal Aviation Administration temporarily banned all DC-10s from American airspace in June 1979. In August 1983, McDonnell Douglas announced that production would end due to a lack of orders, as it had widespread public apprehension after the 1979 crash and a poor fuel economy reputation. As design flaws were rectified and fleet hours increased, the DC-10 achieved a long-term safety record comparable to those of similar-era passenger jets. However, in November 2025, a fatal crash involving the DC-10's successor, the McDonnell Douglas MD-11, caused the FAA to ground the DC-10 again due to safety concerns.
The DC-10 outsold the similar Lockheed L-1011 TriStar due to the latter's delayed introduction and high cost. Production of the DC-10 ended in 1989, with 386 delivered to airlines along with 60 KC-10 tankers. After merging with McDonnell Douglas in 1997, Boeing upgraded many in-service DC-10s as the MD-10 with a glass cockpit that eliminated the need for a flight engineer. In February 2014, the DC-10 made its last commercial passenger flight. Its cargo service remained prevalent for a few more years until it was retired. Today only a small handful of airlines fly the DC-10, mainly for cargo and aerial firefighting.
Development
Background
Following an unsuccessful proposal for the United States Air Force's CX-HLS in 1965, Douglas Aircraft began design studies based on its CX-HLS submission. The aviation author John H. Fielder notes that the company was under competitive pressure to produce a wide-body aircraft, having been somewhat slow in the previous decade to introduce its first jetliners. In 1966, American Airlines offered a specification to manufacturers for a twin-engine wide-body aircraft smaller than the Boeing 747 yet capable of flying similar long-range routes from airports with shorter runways; this specification would be highly influential in the design of what would become the DC-10. It would become McDonnell Douglas's first commercial airliner after the merger between McDonnell Aircraft Corporation and Douglas Aircraft Company in 1967.An early DC-10 design proposal was for a four-engine double-deck wide-body jet airliner with a maximum seating capacity of 550 passengers and similar in length to a DC-8. The proposal was shelved in favor of a trijet single-deck wide-body airliner with a maximum seating capacity of 399 passengers, and similar in length to the DC-8 Super 60. The choice of three engines was influenced by surveys of potential customers other than American Airlines, together with a desire to enhance hot and high climb performance after an engine failure—a serious concern at Stapleton International Airport, which was heavily used by United Airlines, one of the major anticipated buyers. Large portions of the detailed design work, particularly that of the fuselage, were subcontracted to external companies, such as the American aerospace company Convair. The legal relationship between McDonnell Douglas, Convair, and the Federal Aviation Administration would later serve to complicate matters; specifically, Convair was forbidden from contacting the regulator no matter the severity of any safety concerns it had in the DC-10's design.
McDonnell Douglas management became seriously concerned about the viability of the DC-10 after learning about the competing Lockheed L-1011, which was very similar and was being offered to the same customers. On February 19, 1968, in what was supposed to be a knockout blow to Lockheed, George A. Spater, President of American Airlines, and James S. McDonnell of McDonnell Douglas announced American Airlines' intention to acquire the DC-10. This was a shock to Lockheed and there was general agreement within the US aviation industry that American Airlines had left its competitors at the starting gate. According to Fielder, McDonnell Douglas had been urgently pursuing the DC-10's completion in light of the prospective competition and the high financial stakes involved. Together with American Airlines' announcement of the DC-10 order, it was also reported that American Airlines had declared its intention to have the British Rolls-Royce RB211 turbofan engine on its DC-10 airliners. The DC-10 was first ordered by launch customers American Airlines with 25 orders, and United Airlines with 30 orders and 30 options in 1968. The DC-10's similarity to the Lockheed L-1011 in design, passenger capacity, and launch date resulted in a sales competition that affected the profitability of both aircraft.
Into flight
On August 29, 1970, the first DC-10, a series 10, conducted its maiden flight. An extensive flight test program was carried out, totaling 929 flights and 1,551 flight hours; the test program was not incident-free: during one ground test in 1970, an outwardly-opening cargo door blew out and resulted rapid pressurization changes that caused the main cabin's floor to collapse. This discovery and first effort at rectification led to a contract dispute between McDonnell Douglas and Convair over what changes were necessary and financial liability. Fielder alleges that McDonnell Douglas consistently sought to minimize and postpone any design changes to the DC-10, although this attitude was not an explicit policy. In July 1971, Convair outlined the situation in a formal memo; almost a year later, it internally expressed concerns that the inadequate resolution would lead to loss of aircraft. Tragically, the initial rectification work would prove to be inadequate.On July 29, 1971, the FAA issued the type certificate for the DC-10, permitting its entry into revenue service. It entered commercial service with American Airlines on August 5, 1971, with the initial flight being a round-trip flight between Los Angeles and Chicago. United Airlines also commenced DC-10 flights later that same month. American's DC-10s were configured to seat a maximum of 206 passengers while United's seated 222; both had six-across seating in first-class and eight-across in coach. They operated the first version of the DC-10, referred to as the "domestic" series 10, which had a range of with a typical passenger load and a range of with maximum payload.
Further development
Various models of the DC-10 promptly followed, such as the series 15, which had a typical load range of. The series 20 was powered by Pratt & Whitney JT9D turbofan engines, whereas the series 10 and 30 engines were General Electric CF6. Prior to taking delivery of the aircraft, Northwest's president asked that the "series 20" aircraft be redesignated "series 40" because the airliner was much improved over the original design. The FAA issued the certification for the series 40 on October 27, 1972. In 1972, the DC-10's listed unit cost was reportedly US$20M.The series 30 and 40 were longer-range versions better suited for international flights. The main visible difference between the models is that the series 10 has three sets of landing gear while the series 30 and 40 have an additional centerline main gear. The center main two-wheel landing gear was added to distribute the extra weight and for additional braking. The series 30 had a typical load range of and a maximum payload range of. The series 40 had a typical load range of and a maximum payload range of.
The DC-10 had two engine options and introduced longer-range variants a few years after entering service; these allowed it to distinguish itself from its main competitor, the L-1011. Further models and derivatives of the DC-10 have been considered; perhaps the most radical of these being an unpursued twin-engined model akin to the Airbus A300. However, following a spate of fatal accidents, particularly the American Airlines Flight 191 crash orders for the DC-10 had nosedived by 1980, the type having garnered a poor reputation that was widespread amongst the traveling public as well as prospective operators. Competitive pressure had also played a role, Boeing in particular had developed the 747SP variant specifically to better compete with the DC-10 and L-1011.
In December 1988, the 446th and final DC-10 rolled off the Long Beach, California Products Division production line and was delivered to Nigeria Airways in July 1989. The production run had exceeded the 1971 estimate of 438 deliveries needed to break even on the program; however, according to Fielder, the DC-10 had not reached the breakeven point by the end of production. As the final DC-10s were delivered, McDonnell Douglas started production of its successor, the MD-11, which was essentially a stretched derivative of the DC-10-30.
In the late 1980s, international travel was on the rise due to lower oil prices and more economic freedom, leading to a surge in demand for wide-body airliners. However, the Boeing 747-400, MD-11, Airbus A330/A340, and soon-to-be-built Boeing 777 were all behind schedule and could not fully meet the demand. Production of first-generation widebodies like the Boeing 747-100/200/300, L-1011, and DC-10 had ended, so the value of used DC-10-30s almost doubled, rising from less than $20 million to almost $40 million.