video. In just a few short years it would go from being the pride of Airlines to a

plane that some thought twice about flying. [Television] The cargo door was found to have

a basic fault in design. Before you got on the DC-10, were you worried about it? After the Chicago disaster though it's the

engine mountings that have come under the closest scrutiny. After a series of

accidents, McDonnell Douglas is newest jet was engulfed in an extraordinary

wave of controversy. And while the DC-10 ultimately went on to be safe reliable

even pioneering, the company that built it never fully recovered from its

missteps.

the DC-10's story begins in the early 1970s, at a pivotal time, when air travel

was undergoing a revolution. Long-distance flying, once reserved for

the wealthy, opened up to the middle class. And some of this had to do with

aircraft design. A 1960s era airliner like a long-range Boeing 707 had a

single aisle, accommodating at most six seats across. But a new generation of

planes introduced for the 1970s added another aisle allowing for many more

seats. These new generation of airliners were called wide-bodies and their

increased capacity and new efficient fan jet engines helped make air travel more

affordable. Leading the way was Boeing's revolutionary 747. Introduced in 1970, the

world's first wide-body was doubled the size of earlier airliners, and the jumbo jet

quickly became an icon of the jet age. But rival manufacturers raced to unveil

wide-bodies of their own. In 1971 McDonnell Douglas introduced the DC-10.

With a striking trijet configuration, it promised improved fuel efficiency

and lower maintenance costs. The medium to long range airliner could be

configured to carry anywhere from 255 to 380 passengers. And with larger windows

and a quiet spacious cabin, the DC-10 set a new benchmark for passenger comfort.

This was an entirely new kind of airliner and McDonnell Douglas

anticipated huge demand. But so did rival Lockheed, a company also introducing a

new trijet wide-body aimed at largely the same market as the DC-10. The two

companies were building pretty much the same plane, but the L-1011 was Lockheed's

first ever jet airliner. McDonnell Douglas on the other hand, had been

building them since the late 1950s, so they knew a thing or two about slinging

jets. The DC-10's wide-body design incorporated many existing narrow-body

technologies from earlier DC-8 and DC-9s. Focusing on simplicity and reliability,

McDonnell Douglas took a technologically cautious

in an era of rapid technological change. And this helped accelerate the DC-10s

development. On the other hand the L-1011s more ambitious and technically

advanced design threw Lockheed's program into a tailspin of cost overruns

and delays. The DC-10 beat the L-1011 to the market, and it was less expensive. So

McDonnell Douglas was soon out selling its rival. [Television] the DC-10 is probably the

quietest jetliner you've ever flown in. The United DC-10 Friendship, a plane designed

to please everybody. From a wide-body Continental Airlines DC-10... but the DC-10

would quickly lose its shine. In just a few short years the new jet would go

from being the pride of Airlines, to a plane that some people thought twice

about flying. A series of accidents during the 1970s, some of which were

attributed to the plane's design, engulfed the DC-10 in an extraordinary wave of

controversy. McDonnell Douglas found itself facing accusations that it had

rushed the planes development, leading to inadequate, even negligent design

decisions. In 1979 an American Airlines DC-10 was involved in America's worst

air disaster, but it's the events after the crash that really damaged the

plane's reputation. In an unprecedented move, the Federal Aviation Administration

suspended the DC-10 Type Certificate. For five weeks U.S. registered DC-10s

sat grounded on tarmacs, and foreign DC-10s were banned from flying into U.S.

airspace. The investigation focused on a suspected flaw with the airplane's engine

mountings, but the sudden grounding caused chaos at airports.

[Television] How are you going to get there now? I have no idea, I just picked up my luggage downstairs in the mess, I don't know where I'm going to go form here.

Before you got on the DC-10, were you worried about it? Well, in Los Angeles where it was every news report had a big write-up of

it--about the incident of the DC-10s so it makes it is very much on edge.

This delay is due to DC-10 operating restrictions. And passengers are requested to await further calls concerning this flight.

A spokesman for the FAA and the United States declared there was a distinct possibility that the model might never fly again

operators and passengers around the world are wondering whether the sight of

a climbing DC-10 will be as common in the future, or whether it will ever be

seen again. Damage to the DC-10s reputation was immediate and severe.

Airlines stopped featuring the plane in their advertisements, some quietly

removed DC-10s from their mainline routes and new orders for McDonnell

Douglas wide-body dried up. But the 1979 American Airlines crash was ultimately

attributed to improper maintenance procedures and not directly to a design

flaw in the DC-10. But that did little to vindicate the plane's reputation in the

eyes of the public. Because memories were still fresh from an even deadlier

incident five years earlier. In 1974 a Turkish Airlines DC-10 crashed outside

of Paris when an improperly locked cargo door blew open. The explosive

depressurization triggered a catastrophic chain of events which

ultimately severed critical hydraulic lines needed to control the jet. This was

one of the world's worst air disasters, and it might have been avoidable because

two years earlier the same catastrophic chain of events almost brought down an

American Airlines DC-10 just outside of Detroit. Only the pilot's skill and sheer

luck that some hydraulic lines still remained intact prevented disaster. But

remarkably McDonnell Douglas knew about issues with the cargo door even before

the plane entered service the company had witnessed the cargo door blow up

during its own ground testing. Not surprisingly, McDonnell Douglas was

criticized for how it handled the issue, which involved negotiating

their way out of an FAA issued air worthiness directive. Instead McDonnell

Douglas was allowed to handle the cargo door flaw by issuing a Service Bulletin.

But it was ultimately ignored by some airlines. After the Turkish Airlines

disaster McDonnell Douglas was hit with multiple lawsuits from families of the

victims, including up to that point the largest lawsuit in history. And when it

became clear they'd likely be held liable, the cases were settled. But while

the Turkish Airlines disaster was a PR nightmare for McDonnell Douglas, it's the

1979 Chicago disaster that really seemed to crystallize the DC-10s reputation. The

ensuing media frenzy, much of it driven by speculation, was truly unprecedented.

But there were other more pointed criticisms, like accusations that the

DC-10 s design had been compromised in a deliberate rush to beat the L-1011 to

the market, resulting in an overall less sophisticated plane. But what is certain

is that it would take years for the DC-10 s reputation to recover. And by the

1980s,McDonnell Douglas was facing even bigger challenges. The market had really only been big enough for one trijet and that ensured that neither

would become a true commercial success Airlines now wanted more efficient twin-engine

wide-bodies from Airbus and Boeing. McDonnell Douglas was running out of

cash to innovate, but that didn't stop the company from trying. [Television] With a new MD-11,

McDonnell Douglas once again sets a standard for commercial transport

excellence and technological innovation. McDonnell Douglas's efforts to sell an

improved version of its trijet in an era when twin-engine jets were clearly the

future signaled the beginning of the end for the once legendary aircraft builder.

But despite its troubled start the DC-10 would fly for over 40 years, serving with

some of the world's largest airlines. In spite of tragic early accidents,

including an infamous later incident in Sioux City, statistically the DC-10

safety record would go on to be comparable to other wide-bodies of the

era, and much safer than earlier generations of airliners. Noted for their

strength, reliability, and ease of maintenance, these iconic jets were

workhorses for reputable airlines, and in no small part the DC-10 helped open up

air travel to the masses, forever changing the modern airline industry.

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