McDonnell Douglas DC-10: A flying death machine

 The American trijet wide-body aircraft known as the DC-10 is produced by McDonnell Douglas. The goal of the DC-10 was to replace the DC-8 for long-haul trips. It first flew on August 29, 1970, and American Airlines introduced it on August 5, 1971. 

There were 8 variants of the DC-10. They are:

• DC-10-10

• DC-10CF

• DC-10-15

• DC-10-30

• DC-10-30CF

• DC-10-30ER

• DC-10-30AF

• DC-10-40 

However, their were 3 proposed variants of the DC-10 which were never made. They are:

• DC-10-20

• DC-10-50

• DC-10 Twin 

The DC-10 Twin was supposed to have two engines instead of three. 

The DC-10 is in a very limited service. 

The KC-10 Extender is the tanker variant of the DC-10. It is based on DC-10-30. It is mainly used by United States Air Force. 

Why was the DC-10 called 'Flying Death Machine'?

The DC-10 had a huge problem. The problem was with the cargo door. The cargo doors of the DC-10 open outward, which permits the cargo room to be fully occupied because the open doors do not take up any otherwise useful interior space. Heavy locking mechanisms are required for outward-opening doors in order to counteract the outward force caused by the fuselage's pressurization at high altitudes. Explosive decompression is more likely in the case of a door lock malfunction. This cargo door problem led to a lot of accidents. Such as American Airlines Flight 96 and Turkish Airlines Flight 981's cargo door opened mid-air. Flight 96 landed safely on a airport but Flight 981 crashed in Ermenonville Forest. 

Due in part to a design defect in the initial cargo doors, which resulted in several mishaps, including fatalities, the DC-10 had a terrible safety record during its early operations. In June 1979, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) temporarily prohibited all DC-10 aircraft from operating in US airspace as a result of the American Airlines Flight 191 disaster, which was the deadliest aviation catastrophe in US history. Due to a lack of orders and a reputation for poor fuel economy following the 1979 disaster, McDonnell Douglas declared in August 1983 that production would cease. As fleet hours rose and design problems were fixed, the DC-10's long-term safety record caught up to those of passenger planes from the same era. 

With 386 aircraft and 60 KC-10 tankers delivered to airlines, production ceased in 1989.