Exclusive - Lufthansa Cargo bids Farewell to the MD-11F

CFG: The MD-11F is history at Lufthansa Cargo. Are you sad?
FD: It's not a nice day for me, and certainly not for some of my other cargo cockpit colleagues. However, I already said goodbye to the ELEVEN on 17DEC20, after my last flight with the freighter from Atlanta to Frankfurt.

CFG: Looking back – how did you feel when you first sat in the cockpit of the MD-11F and took off in it?
FD: I actually sat in the cockpit for the first time in Long Beach, the “birthplace” of the MD-11 at the manufacturer McDonnell Douglas, in August 1998. At that time, I was retraining from the B747-200 to the ELEVEN in the simulator at Douglas, together with a captain who had participated in the test flights at the end of the 1980s. As expected, he had a lot of interesting things to say about the aircraft. During that time, we were able to go to the hangar where our planes were being built. It was really cool to crawl through the holes of a half-finished plane. And, of course, we also sat in the front left. I remember saying to my colleague, Wilfried Harink: “This will be the seat in which I retire”. I didn't actually believe it at the time, but it really happened that way. My last flight was with the D-ALCD.
My first scheduled flight took from MIA to JFK. I knew both airports well from my time on the B747, but preparing to land at night on runway 13L with the well-known Canarsie approach was exciting. My pulse was racing! It was, in fact, my first proper landing after the simulator training. However,... it all worked out.

CFG: The aircraft was the backbone of Lufthansa Cargo's freighter fleet for over 23 years. When the type was introduced, it impressed with much better efficiency than its predecessor, the four-engine Boeing 747-200F. In retrospect, would the B-400F not have been more suitable than the MD-11F? Cargolux or ABC opted for the B-400F (and later the B -8).  
FD: This question often comes up and is also quite justified: why do the others fly with the jumbo and we don't? The answer, however, is also more than obvious: because of high operating costs, a jumbo can only be operated economically when it is fully loaded. Yet, Lufthansa Cargo could by no means ensure this on all routes. Seen in this light, the somewhat smaller ELEVEN was the better option.

CFG: Due to the mighty turbine mounted in the aft section, the aircraft is very tail-heavy and complicated to maneuver. What is your professional view on this aspect?
FD: There are two aspects to this:
1. Loading and unloading: due to the heavy Engine 2 at the rear, the danger of tail tipping is very high. Loadmasters have to be extremely careful to load and unload shipments in a very specific sequence to balance the weight. In fact, all cargo airlines that have had the MD-11F in their fleet have, at one time or another, put the plane on its tail. Thank goodness, we never did!
2. Operationally, the MD-11F is demanding. Besides its tail-heaviness, it is, above all, the high approach speeds that require enormous concentration. That's one of the reasons why I never lost my respect for this aircraft, nor my confidence in its performance, even after 23 years. This is also due to the many test flights after major technical checks, during which we always took the ELEVEN to its operational limits. There is no better way to get to know the aircraft.

CFG: What is the prevailing opinion amongst cargo pilots? Are there more outspoken MD-11F-“lovers” or, conversely, “objectors”?
FD: Generally speaking: There are many staunch fans of the MD-11 Freighter and few who never quite identified with the aircraft.  
Yet, in no other fleet in the entire Group, have the pilots spoken so affectionately about an aircraft as cargo pilots do about “their” MD-11F. Sometimes, we received odd looks and were ridiculed with sentences like “it's just your work machine”. But no, the pilots have actually taken this aircraft much more to their hearts than pilots of other fleets, convinced sidestick friends of Airbus products, for example.
Many colleagues therefore stayed on much longer than originally planned. And some didn't even want to leave. Once ELEVEN - always ELEVEN!

CFG: The crash in Saudi Arabia in July 2010 was the most serious accident involving a Lufthansa Cargo MD-11F. Looking back, what is your opinion on this, and did the crash lead to any consequences?
FD: I remember the call from our operations management very well. I was at home, on holiday, when it came. I then immediately went to the company headquarters at Frankfurt Airport, and sat with the crisis team for days.
The problem, in this case, was that the D-ALCQ with 80 tons of cargo on board, had touched down extremely hard and jumped back into the air. In aviation parlance, this is called a "bounce". You don't necessarily notice this immediately in the cockpit of a large aircraft. In this case, the MD-11F touched down a second and even a third time. On the third touchdown, the g-force was so high that the structure could no longer absorb the g-load and broke apart. Thank God, the two pilots were able to leave the aircraft, which had caught fire, in time via the emergency slides.
The most effective action in such a situation is the go-around, i.e. take off again. This is still possible without any problems even after the landing gear has touched the ground, as long as you have not switched to “Reverse”.
The consequence for Lufthansa Cargo: It was made a requirement that a system be installed that indicates to the pilots “landing gear back in the air” after touchdown. A blue light then shines directly in front of the eyes of both pilots. However, this system did not exist at the time; it had to first be developed and tested.

CFG: Were there any critical situations that you personally experienced with the freighter?
FD: Not really, but unusual situations at times: weather that forced an alternative landing. Nairobi thunderstorm... with an alternative flight to Kilimanjaro Airport, for example. Or a horse that was supposed to fly to Doha, but “fell over” in the box right after take-off in Frankfurt, and couldn't get back on its feet... We landed in Munich, so that the animal could be rescued. If we had flown through to Doha, the horse would not have survived, the vets in Munich later said.