Although the DC-10 is nearing the sunset of its career, there are still a couple of things going on.
Photo by Jasper Scheffers
DC - 10 NEWS
March 6th 2008
*I still don't know, how many times I need to apologize for my delays in updating the page. But now, I also have to apalogize that the timespan between two updates is becoming larger. Sorry for everything....
*My sincere apologies to all the people who did not (yet) get a reply from my side concerning a question or any other issue regarding the DC-10. I'll try to send a reply as soon as possible.
*So, what happened in the past 10 months? FedEx is still inprogress in converrting their DC-10 freighters to MD-10. But there shouldn't be many left to convert by now.
*TAB Cargo became a new DC-10 operator, taking delivery of an ex Cielos/Centurion DC-10-10F(AF) aircraft (#43). This is also the first bolivian-registred DC-10. Welcome, Bolivia!
*3 ex Northwest DC-10 will replace World's former Delta MD-11s which are returrned to the repective lessor in the first half of 2008. All three are former VARIG aircraft and will be registred N136WA, N137WA and N138WA
*Remember #183? The DC-10 which has the destinction of being the commercial airliner weith the most hours in the air? That one is scheduled for a check in mid 2008, resuming serrvice with American Trans Air later this year! Long live the mighty 10!
*10 Tanker Air Carrier is still operating the DC-10-10 firefighter aircraft with support of Omni International. There are rumours that one of Omni's DC-10-30s will be converted to a firefighter aircraft too.
May 10th 2007
*The show must go on! (PART I): The two or three monthly visitors of this page may have missed the monthly update. Unfortunately, I can't come up with any new excuses. My work still keeps me busy. So, I can't say anything but sorry for the delay! Anyway, the good news is that the page is still alive and there's no end in sight.
*The show must go on! (PART II): Unfortunately, there's still a lot of work to do. Many photos have been offline for more than two years as well as the photo list. There are alos a couple of dead links within the page too. I know, it's annoying but I will try to find some time for that too. Unfortunately, I can't do any promises when this will happen...
*The show must go on! (PART III): Also, the DC-10 is still going strong and continuing the Douglas tradition of longevity. After the retirement of #183 on September 4th 2006, it's official: According to a magazine, there's no civil aircraft with more hours on the clock. 131045 hours in the air, that's almost 15 years! Congratulations, DC-10 for this record!
*The show must go on! (PART IV): The above mentioned DC-10 is among seven former Northwest DC-10 which were acquired by American Trans Air. Five of them will continue to fly, while two will be used as spare source. Let's hope that #183 will get its chance to expand the record.
*Northwest Airlines operated its last scheduled DC-10 service on January 8th 2007, marking the end of a long era. In 34 years of DC-10 operations, Northwest had 45 different DC-10s in its fleet and did not experience a single larger accident. To see an interesting photo set about Northwest's DC-10 retirement, please click here
*Avient increased its fleet to a size of three DC-10s by adding two ex DAS Air Cargo aircraft. After some trouble with EU authorities, the fleet was reduced to two DC-10s.
December 15th 2006
*As always, I was quite busy in November, so that I had to skip the November update. At least I had the chance to contribute some small things to a newspaper article which appeared in the November 22nd issue of USA today. Click here to read the article.
*FedEx finally decided not to repair #169 which suffered from a gear collapse in July. It will be written off instead.
*Three of Omega's DC-10-40s had their engines and gear removed. They will probably be scrapped.
*The Royal Netherlands Air Force acquired a fourth DC-10, #253, which will be used as spare source only.
*Some update on the NW DC-10s: #434 and #437 went to Omni, #435 and #436 will follow. More DC-10s are stored, including the aircraft which will go to ATA. That leaves only two Northwest DC-10s in service: #336 and #188.
*Something that is more interesting to me is the status of #132. This aircraft has spent 128 679 hours in the air and will most probably be scrapped. My question: Where is it and is there any other aircraft in the world which can beat this?
October 5th 2006
*On July 28th 2006, a FedEx MD-10 (#169) was substantially damaged while landing in Memphis. Flight FDX630 arriving from Seattle suffered a collapse of the left main gear. Wing and engine were severely damaged, but the aircraft will be repaired!
*ATA's plans to acquire DC-10s became more clear: 5 DC-10s will be operated by ATA while two will be used for spares.
*A similar deal between Northwest Airlines and Omni Air is also on the way. There, the first aircraft to be used for spares is #160. #434 was scheduled to be prepared for Omni Air service in Tel Aviv during September of 2006, but I don't know about its current status.
*Omega Air plans to operate a fleet of former JAL DC-10-40 as KDC-10 fuelling aircraft for the USAF as subcontractor. The company also plans to offer its KDC-10 aircraft operations to other NATO-countries. It is still not clear, if any aircraft were really converted or only a "dummy" demonstration was made at Fairford.
*DAS Air Cargo will decrease its fleet by three DC-10-30F(AF), keeping four aircraft in its fleet. One aircraft, #266, already found a new home with Avient. It was registred Z-AVT.
*Former JAT DC-10 #278 was scrapped in Nimes this summer.
*A FedEx DC-10, #303, is offered for sale.
*This summer, NWA phased out two further DC-10s shrinking their fleet to 12 units. In total 214 DC-10s (including 61 KC-10/KDC-10 aircraft) are still in service compared to slightly over 30 TriStars.
July 5th 2006
*MTA - Master Top Linhas Aereas is a new freight operator in Brazil which will fly with former Cielos del Perú aircraft #215.
*According to an article from ATW, Northwest Airlines will retire its DC-10s by January 2007 after almost 35 years of service. Check out that article by clicking here
*Bad news from Arrow Air: On June 4th 2006, #98 overshot the runway in Managua, Nicaragua and was damaged beyong repair. Fortunately, none of the three crew members on board was injured.
*More Arrow Air: the Miami-based company leased a former Centurion / SouthWinds DC-10-40F(AF). The carrier now operates three different DC-10 freighter aircraft: Series -10, series -30 and series -40!
*FedEx's DC-10 fleet decreased by two units after two DC-10-30F(AF) aircraft were returned to United Airlines after lease.
May 22th 2006
*Corrections to the news published last week: CargO Italia's DC-10 is not leased but acquired by this new freight carrier. Please check out #335 to see the aircraft in full Cargo Italia colours. Cargo Italia is looking for two or three further DC-10s.
*I just got the information that the three former Ghana Airways DC-10s which were stored in Rome were scrapped this winter. Three more aircraft seem to be gone forever...
*The Royal Netherlands Air Force will introduce its third DC-10 (#255) into service soon. The D-check of this aircraft was just completed in Italy.
*In a top ten list of the "The Worst Stupid Engineering Mistakes" of "Wired" magazines, the DC-10 made a fifth place. We all are aware of the fact that the DC-10 had teething issues and unfortunately one of them led to the THY crash in 1974. Anyway, I consider it an exaggeration to call the DC-10 a "stupid engineering mistake", especially considering that 36 years after its first flight, the DC-10 is still a workhorse and present in high numbers.
May 15th 2006
*A former Airtours/MYTravel DC-10-10 was transferred into the South African aircraft register. This is also the first DC-10 to be registred in this country - Welcome South Africa!
*Cargo Italia is a new operator from Italy. It will lease the former SkyJet DC-10-30F(AF)
*A fellow reader provided me with interesting information about the former Western Airlines DC-10-10: Although the Registrations N910WA and N911WA were skipped, the numeration with fleet numbers was followed consequently. Please check out the updated Western Airlines operator page
March 4th 2006
*Not many news this month, but hey - I managed to update my page this month! OK, if I had not caught up a cold this month, I wouldn't be sure if I had tzhe time for the page...
*OK, let's start: South Winds Cargo's sole DC-10-40F(AF) was returned to Finova Leasing. The aircraft was most probably replaced by a former Swiss MD-11
*A couple of movements in the FedEx fleet, some aircraft went into or returned from freighter / MD-10 conversion
February 9th 2006
*Beside my usual delays in updating this page, I suffered from a hard disk loss in late November and have been trying to recover the data during the past few weeks. Unfortunately, a lot of material still to be published, was lost...
*Starting with news (which are in most cases not news anymore): Santa Barbara Airlines from Venezuela replaced its two DC-10s with an ex Loftleidir Boeing 767-300ER. One of them, #133, was ferried to Roswell, the other one is most probably still stored in Caracas
*Some ex Iberia and AOM/AirLib aircraft found new owners, however, these are most probably companies which will break up the aircraft for spares.
*JAT's last DC-10, #278, was ferried to Nimes. The aircraft will be scrapped in Kemble, UK. #278 was the last european registred DC-10 in pax configuration.
*Garuda has withdrawn its DC-10s from service in late 2005. All aircraft are now stored in Jakarta.
*JAL also said goodbye to the DC-10. The final revenue service took place on October 31st 2005. The honour went to #308, which flew from Seoul to Tokyo on that day. This was also the last DC-10-40 passenger flight.
*Knight Air of Nigeria is operating #346 with Djibouti registration for a company called Buraq in Lybia. Strange combination... Anyway, this means also the first Djibouti-registration for a DC-10.
*Northwest Airlines took a couple of DC-10s out of service. This includes #132, which reached a total of 128679 hours! A german magazine claimed that this is the world record, although I do not know if that's the world record for a DC-10 or for any aircraft. I also heard from other sources, that the record holder is #115.
*Avient is said to be looking at two further DC-10s. The airline is also interested to register its single DC-10 in France or UK after some trouble with its Zimbabwe registration. Check out the pictures of their DC-10 (#157) made in late January!
*Centurion Air Cargo acquired two former Canadian DC-10 which were stored in Goodyear since 2001.
*Cielos del Perú acquired a former Iberia DC-10 (#324), which is stored in Opa Locka, FL. I have no information if the aircraft will be used as spare source or will be converted to a freighter.
October 11th 2005
*Sorry girls and guys. I have been quite busy with my new job during the past few months. In this update, I just have the most necessary alterations. And the photo page is still far away from being online again. I hope that the winter schedule will give me more time for updates.
*On July 1st, #295 skidded off runway 23 in Chittagong (Bangladesh) and was written off.
*#281, a former World Airways freighter, was seen in basic All Canada Express colours with a new registration (C-FACX). However, this registration belongs (belonged?) to a 727 and the aircraft was never reported with All Canada Express. It became a fleet member of DAS Air Cargo in July 2005.
*Another DC-10 made it back into service: #98, a former Emery Worldwide aircraft which was stored for a few years in Marana, is back with Arrow Air, joining its former Emery and Continental fleetmate #34. It is currently undergoing a C-Check in Rio.
*#260, which was said to go to FlyGlopespan and Air Scandic, was scrapped in May 2005. It was the last DC-10 in Britain.
*The last airworthy DC-10-15, #346, is now stored in Jakarta and was reported to be in a very dirty condition.
March 23rd 2005
*Scottish low fare carrier FlyGlobespan will most probably take over #260 for Canada flights.
*#70, an aircraft which was planned as spare source by FedEx, was ferried to Venice for freighter conversion.
*Some information about the high time DC-10: It is currently N221NW (#132) with almost 126 000 hrs, followed by N223NW (#183) with more than 125 000. It seems that at least 16 have reached the 100 000 hour mark (including 2 ex-NW and 3 ex-AA aircraft which are no longer in service). All "centenaries" belong to Northwest with the exception of DAS Air Cargo's 5X-JOE (#115) and Omni's N49082 (#190), but I am not sure if Omni's DC-10 reached the mark already.
February 21st 2005
*At least two of the Executive Aerospace DC-10-10 got names. #285 (3D-MRR) was named "Holly" and #318 (3D-MRS) was named "Caron".
*Cielos del Perú's DC-10 freighter fleet now comprises 8 aircraft including 7 DC-10-30F(AF) and a single former Emery DC-10-10F(AF). Rumours say that there are plans to add two further aircraft this year.
*Gemini Air Cargo's DC-10 fleet is shrinking. #337 (N612GC) was sold to Centurion Air Cargo. #158 (N609GC) was returned to its lessor and is now one of the svene DC-10-30F(AF) in Cielos del Perú's fleet.
*Air-Van Airlines' #346 is now operated for or leased to Afghan carrier Pamir Air.
*Arrow Air's fourth DC-10 will be the former BrasMex aircraft #314
January 9th 2005
*Executive Aerospace from South Africa acquired the three former MyTravel DC-10-10. These aircraft (#252, #285 and #318) got a Swaziland registration and will most probably be used on Hadj charters and other wet-lease contracts.
*The three aircraft mentioned above are also the first DC-10s registred in Swaziland.
*#260, the aircraft intended for Air Scandic, remains stored in Manchester and was not taken up.
*Arrow Air added the second and third DC-10 to its fleet. One aircraft (#267) comes from World Airways, the other one is the former Aeroflot DC-10-30F(CF) #289 which was stored for almost three years.
*In a web forum, I noticed a DC-10 registration N301WL for a World Airways aircraft. As far as I know, there was never any DC-10 with this reg. Was it reserved for #267 which went to Arrow Air?
November 9th 2004
*Northwest Airlines stored 2 DC-10-30s in Marana (#241 and #336). There are only plans to bring #336 back into service. The list of candidates for early phase out now comprises following aircraft: #60, #171, #184, #199 and #236.
*According to rumours, Ghana Airways will restart operations in December with a leased Hamburg International 737-700. It seems, that we will not see Ghana DC-10s flying again.
*Although it still isn't confirmed, everybody seems to know that #260 will be the Air Scandic DC-10.
*Avient Aviation from the United Kingdom is a new cargo operator. It acquired former NMB DC-10-30F(CF) #157 and registered it in Zimbabwe as Z-ARL. That also means: Welcome Zimbabwe!
*#181, an aircraft bound for the scrapyard, is doing engine test runs in Opa Locka. Does it mean that a carrier is interested in it or are they just looking if the engines could be sold for spares?.
*The Royal Netherlands Air Force aquired former United Airlines DC-10-30F(CF) #255. The aircraft will be used as a convertible freighter/transport aircraft and not as a tanker.
October 9th 2004
*Hours and cycles about some Northwest Airlines DC-10 updated, although most info is from 2002. I heard that now some aircraft are near the 125 000 hrs mark, but I would appreciate further information about it.
*It is said that Northwest will phase out at least three DC-10s in 2005. Two hot candidates are #171 and #199 - #241 and #336 will be parked in late 2004, but these two will return in early to mid 2005 in new colours.
*More infor about a former Northwest DC-10: #114 was not only the high-time champion among the DC-10s, but also among all commercial air transports. Does anybody know if the DC-10 ist still leading? If yes, the candidates should be found among in Northwest Airlines fleet or perhaps with DAS Air Cargo's #115.
*My favourite airline, Ghana Airways, ceased operations in September after #165 was also stored in Marana. All own operations were ceased, but occasionally flights were operated by other airlines including Air Zimbabwe, Orient Thai and Royal Jordanian. The company will be reorganized under the new name of "Ghana International"
*Global Spirit Airlines is said to be a start-up airline in Pakistan planning to connect Karachi with Manchester and some asian destinations with a DC-10.
*Another rumour: Air Scandic is said to commence DC-10 service from Manchester to South Africa (Cape Town and Durban). The aircraft will be operated on behalf of CT2 South Africa. If this is all true, Manchester will become a small DC-10 hub.
*#260, MyTravel's last DC-10, will most probably be taken out of service at the end of this month.
*I would like to welcome Michael Mantoudis among the photographers showing pictures on this page. Please note the photo of #191 showing the sad remains of this aircraft.
*The update of this month includes some changes in the registrations section where the ugly colours of the world map were changed to a more eye-friendly design.
September 5th 2004
*Arrow Air plans to switch its whole fleet to DC-10s again (yes)! The first aircraft, a former Continental/Emery DC-10-10F(AF), #34, already joined the fleet in July 2004.
*Garuda started the withdrawal of their DC-10s. The youngest aircraft, #286, was stored at Jakarta/Soekarno Hatta
*The last Centurion Air Cargo DC-10-40F(AF) found a new home with South Winds Cargo, a new DC-10 operator. Centurion now only uses DC-10-30F(AF)s.
*Another important DC-10 is gone. The DC-10-40 prototype, #28 was broken up in Roswell, NM
*Finally, Ghana news again, although this time bad ones: On July 27th 2004, the FAA withdrew Ghana Airways' license to fly into the USA. One of their DC-10s, #106, was grounded and is now stored in Marana, AZ. Operations continued on a limited base to Europe using the second remaining DC-10, #165. The airline will now try to reorganize itself again.
August 30th 2004
*Air-Van Airlines of Armenia is the new operator of #346 with the registration EK-10151
August 15th 2004
*Updates in the operators and history sections. The history was completely rewritten and is restructured by years. Many articles, in Wikipedia-style, will supply you with information.
*No interesting movements. Only some smaller updates on stored FedEx aircraft which are now being converted to freighters.
July 23rd 2004
*Again, I have to apologize for the late update. I know, it is not the first time and it will surely not be the last one. Anyway, here are the news:
*The aircraft which overran the runway in Bogotá on April 28th 2004, #354, was finally written off.
*World Airways shifted a little between its aircraft and reactivated some stored DC-10s while withdrawing some others. As far as I know, the current fleet consists of four pax aircraft and two freighters.
*From World Airways also comes Centurion Air Cargo's next DC-10-30F(AF), #291, which replaces #354.
*An ex-JAL DC-10-40 was converted to a KDC-10 tanker aircraft for Global Airtanker Service. It is the first PW-powered DC-10 for this purpose.
*I will fly to the Netherlands to visit the Aviodome museum so I will be away for some time. Anyway, I still hope to have the next update by mid-August.
June 30th 2004
*Correction to the news published on March 11th 2004: Brasmex is under a reorganization program and far away from bankruptcy.
*Next "real" update will follow within the next few days!
May 24th 2004
*Ryan International / Skyservice USA phased out its last DC-10-10 (#251)in early 2004 or late 2003. It was the last series 10 aircraft in passenger service....
*Three ex Canadian Airlines DC-10-30 (including two -ER aircraft) were scrapped in early 2004 in Marana. Two ex Continental aircraft met the same fate in Roswell, NM.
