(The scene: somewhere within the large UPS cargo hub at Louisville International Airport, a pilot grumbles.)
Dammit, we should have been in the air three hours ago! What is taking maintenance so long to fix the friggin' plane? I realize Boeing isn't popping these MD-11 tri-jets out their assembly lines anymore these days, but come on, how hard is it really to get parts for this thing?
(Suddenly, maintenance radios in.)
"Good news, Captain. We have managed to track down the electrical fault. Should have you airborne within a half hour or so."
Thank God. I was beginning to think it might actually be faster to just unload the plane and drive the cargo to Memphis myself. Time to get going with the preflight rituals once again, I suppose...
(A half-hour later.)
Well, it looks like we are all set. Thanks to this delay, it looks like this bird will get a rare chance to see the sun while airborne. Oh well. Better late than never.
Now that the scene is set, let us accompany our severely tardy pilot on a short-but-sweet flight aboard PMDG's new MD-11 add-on, decked out in a very nice UPS livery. We are taking off from UPS's cargo hub at Louisville International Airport (previously known as Standiford Field), bound for Memphis International Airport. Ironically, Memphis just also happens to be a major hub of UPS's chief competitor, FedEx. This route is currently flown by UPS as Flight 1384, which has been known to use MD-11's on the route from time to time.
Here is a view of the plane we will be taking out for a ride today:
Some background: the MD-11 was developed in the late 1980s as an update to McDonnell-Douglas's successful DC-10 series. The DC-10 was developed in the early 1970s as an economical answer to the Boeing 747. It also competed with the somewhat similar Lockheed L-1011 tri-jet. The DC-10 is a wide-body tri-jet capable of both medium and long-haul service. The third engine made the DC-10 suitable for overseas routes in the days preceding ETOPS regulations that made twin-engine overseas flights viable. Unfortunately, several high-profile accidents in the 1970s and 1980s gave the DC-10 and MD-11 a negative public perception of being an unsafe aircraft; however it is worth noting that many cargo airlines (including FedEx) are still flying DC-10s and MD-11s as freighters to this day.
The MD-11 stretched the DC-10 a bit and completely revamped the avionics. Gone were all the old steam gauges of the DC-10 (save for the backup instruments); in their place, six state-of-the-art glass screens relay all important flight data to both pilots. This development was revolutionary at the time the MD-11 was developed in the late 1980s; though now, it is practically standard equipment on every new airliner produced today, including the most popular models from Boeing, Airbus, Embraer, and Bombardier. Honeywell developed the MD-11 avionics for McDonnell-Douglas, which became known as Advanced Common Flightdeck, or ACF. McDonnell-Douglas would go on to incorporate ACF in their MD-95 project (a revamp of the MD-80), which was ultimately produced by Boeing as the Boeing 717 post-merger. Indeed, glimpsing at real-life cockpit photos of the MD-11 and the Boeing 717 reveal that the two are strikingly similar.
Alas, the aforementioned ETOPS regulations have essentially doomed the future of the MD-11. Only 300 MD-11s were ever produced. Medium and long-range twin engine jets such as the Boeing 767 and Airbus A330 have largely filled the niche previously occupied by the DC-10/MD-11 on overseas flights, as elimination of the third engine has meant increased fuel savings. Still, a few airlines continue to fly some MD-11s as passenger airliners, including KLM and Finnair. MD-11s have become very popular as freighters, with both FedEx and UPS operating them for overseas (and even some domestic) cargo routes.
On board, here is a first glimpse of the virtual cockpit of the PMDG MD-11:
The virtual cockpit is visually appealing, and stunningly detailed. Among other things, pay attention to the three FMS computers on the center pedestal. There is a very neat detail about this coming up.
The 2D panel does not fail to impress, either. Here is the main view from the Captain's chair:
And from the First Officer's seat:
If you own PMDG's 747, you probably recall a row of buttons near the top of the 2D panel to pull up the different systems. PMDG has taken a different approach with the MD-11, which I really like. There are now six clickable areas on the panel which pull up different displays. Four of these appear as "ghosted" rectangular buttons. The remaining two consist of a "ghosted" left arrow for the autoflight controls, and another clickable area in the general vicinity of the compass near the top of the panel. These areas respond differently whenever you right-click versus left-click the area. Here is an example:
Left-clicking the compass brings up a miniature version of the overhead panel, with only the bottom row of buttons (generally covering the lights) visible:
On the other hand, right-clicking the compass brings up the full version of the overhead panel:
Here is a view of the autoflight controls:
The center pedestal:
One interesting thing to note here. The MD-11 is rather unique in that flap position between 11-25 degrees is completely variable. This is known as "dial-a-flap," as seen above. When the main flaps lever is pulled to this detent, the dial-a-flap value on the right is the actual value used. There are recommendations for different dial-a-flap settings depending on the conditions involved. Above 25 degrees, there are hard detents for 28 and 35 degrees, which are generally used for landing.
Here is the radio stack:
Clicking on the area marked "FO" from the Captain's seat will take you to the First Officer's view. Likewise, there is a corresponding button there to take you back to the Captain's view again.
While I am on the subject of the First Officer's view: recall the multiple FMC's mentioned earlier? It turns out that PMDG has modeled all three of these (the third one being on the radio stack) as independent units, just as in real life! This means that the First Officer may be looking at a different screen on the FMC than the Captain, and the simulation keeps track of this accordingly. Many add-ons just use a single FMC for all of them. This is one small detail that I find really neat; just one of many examples of the level of thought and detail that have gone into this product.
And here is a closeup view of the FMC:
The FMC bears a significant resemblance to the FMC used in the Fokker F70/F100 add-on from Digital Aviation. It appears to be something of a forerunner to the FMC used in modern Airbus models. If you have flown Digital Aviation's Fokker or Wilco's Airbus add-ons, the MD-11's FMC will rapidly become very familiar to you.
The FMC itself uses a common navigation database with the PMDG 747, which is also nice. If you subscribe to the Navigraph AIRAC updates, then the PMDG update will now update the FMC in both the 747 and the MD-11. The FMC has full support for terminal procedures, alternate airports, and more.
Oh yes, even the windshield wipers work:
I am not entirely certain if PMDG has modeled a weather radar on the MD-11, or even if the MD-11 actually has a weather radar. It was not mentioned in the tutorial flight. I need to go back and look at the reference documents on the aircraft and see.
PMDG has included extensive documentation about operating the MD-11. For the novice, they have done a fantastic step-by-step tutorial of taking the plane from cold and dark to airborne flight and eventual landing. The tutorial flight simulates an old Swissair route from Heathrow to Zurich. I ran this flight using real-world weather, and found myself landing in a snowstorm in Zurich! The MD-11 landed flawlessly using an ILS approach. The weather was really cool. In my excitement, I forgot to snap a few screenshots, but I wish I had now.
One other nifty tidbit: the PMDG has included a few extra goodies with the MD-11. I won't give them all away, but here is a teaser: a more precise pushback mechanism. This is invoked from a special menu within the FMC, which would not appear on the actual plane. You can specify how far back you want the plane pushed, and the angle of turn. Then sit back and listen to the captain and tug driver banter back and forth during the operation! Fun stuff.
Lastly, here are a couple of shots of the MD-11 in action during our flight to Memphis:
Bottom line: PMDG has come up with another winner. The price may be steep, but the quality and attention to detail match accordingly. If you have to forego your beer money for a month or three, or convince your relatives to give you cash instead of socks for the holidays this year, then the MD-11 is well worth the sacrifice. In a year in which so many great new add-ons have appeared on the scene, the MD-11 is definitely among the best.
Overall rating: *****
