By Andy Pasztor
Almost two decades after U.S. air-safety officials addressed
some dangerous handling characteristics of MD-11 jetliners, there
is a renewed call to take further action.
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board has recommended
that regulators require installation of new cockpit aids and cues
to help MD-11 pilots avoid botched landings that have resulted in a
history of hazardous bounces, wing fractures and even some aircraft
rolling over on the runway.
The board said the widebody jet, which suffered 13 hard landings
between 1994 and 2010, has the highest rate of such dangerous
touchdowns among 27 Western-built jet models, based on the number
of flights.
More than 140 of the jets remain in service with cargo carriers,
though passenger airlines have essentially phased them out.
McDonnell Douglas Corp. introduced the plane 24 years ago and in
1997 Boeing Co. bought the company.
In addition to calling for installation of additional safety
systems, the NTSB this month said it wants the Federal Aviation
Administration to consider imposing more-stringent experience
requirements on MD-11 pilots than those flying other big Boeing or
Airbus jets. To maintain proficiency and comply with federal rules,
U.S. airline pilots operating scheduled flights typically must make
at least three landings every 90 days or they won't be considered
"current" to fly passengers or cargo. In its letter, the board said
the plane's accident history means that MD-11 pilots could benefit
from "additional landing experience beyond the current
requirement."
Such a recommendation is unusual, because implementing it could
upset airline training and scheduling systems. Since MD-11s
typically are used on medium- to long-haul routes, their pilots
have relatively few chances to execute landings compared with
pilots flying shorter routes. As a result, the safety board said
such crews may lack "sufficient opportunities to maintain their
skills" when it comes to "making appropriate control inputs" just
before touchdown.
A spokesman for Boeing said the company is reviewing the
recommendations and will submit comments by the beginning of
July.
An FAA spokeswoman said the agency will "carefully consider all
recommendations" from the NTSB and since 1993 has worked with the
board to implement 44 of 47 previous recommendations related to the
MD-11. "We look forward to working with the board on these new
recommendations to improve the safety of the MD-11 fleet," the
spokeswoman said.
The board's letter highlights the continuing safety controversy
over the three-engine plane 24 years after McDonnell Douglas
introduced it into service, promising that computerized flight
controls would offer a big safety advance.
Instead, the MD-11 was beset by a series of problems, including
particularly sensitive controls at low and high altitudes; a
tendency for pilots to smack the plane's tail on the runway during
takeoffs; and persistent landing accidents.
Boeing has implemented a number of software upgrades and pilot
manual changes since it bought McDonnell Douglas. Starting in the
late 1990s, the MD-11 gained a reputation as an unforgiving
airplane with finicky handling that can make it particularly hard
to land.
In 2011, the NTSB urged improved recurrent training and
operational guidance for MD-11 pilots. The latest recommendations
are intended to provide "longer term solutions for further reducing
the risk of MD-11 landing accidents," according to the board.
In its letter, the safety board referred to a FedEx Corp. MD-11
that bounced repeatedly while trying to land in 2009 at Narita
International Airport in Japan. The left wing broke, both pilots
were killed and the cargo plane burned up. A year later, a Deutsche
Lufthansa AG MD-11 cargo plane made a hard landing in Riyadh, Saudi
Arabia, causing the rear of the fuselage to rupture and the nose
gear to collapse. One pilot was seriously injured and the plane was
destroyed.
A spokesman for FedEx said the company is still reviewing the
recommendations, which were released in early April.
According to the NTSB, MD-11 hard landings frequently involve
failures by the pilots to pull up the nose of the plane just before
touchdown and in some instances stem from "mismanagement of bounced
landings," which can cause the airplane to "porpoise," or exhibit a
series of upward and downward motions close to the ground.
Other factors the board cited were the MD-11's high landing
speed and cockpit placement that reduces pilot awareness of the
landing gear's contact with the ground. The board said "it is
important to reduce the possibility" of excessive flight command by
pilots close to the ground, which could result in a bounced
landing.
Write to Andy Pasztor at andy.pasztor@wsj.com
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