To: zipper
According to the airliners.net folks, this was the oldest DC-10 still in service and they 4th one ever built.
9 posted on
12/18/2003 5:28:44 PM PST by
July 4th
(George W. Bush, Avenger of the Bones)
To: July 4th
I worked in the program office for the MD-10 when still employed at MDC/Boeing. FedEx had essentially bought up all of the available and usable DC-10's on the open market and converted all of them to the MD-10 configuration. The mods literally ripped out all of the wiring; upgraded all components in the cockpit to an MD-11 equivalent one; changed the crew requirements from P/CoP/FE to just P/CoP; and the engines were all overhauled. Also, the large cargo door was added in the fuselage.
FedEx had a rule about high flight hours on the birds they picked up but many of them, nevertheless, were old calendar wise. The MD-10 project gave FedEx almost brand new airplanes for 1/3 the cost of a new plane.
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