💾 Archived View for jsreed5.org › log › 2021 › 202106 › 20210619-md-10-10-retirements.gmi captured on 2021-12-04 at 18:04:22. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
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A few weeks ago I posted a picture I'd taken of a FedEx DC-10 landing at KMCI. Technically the type is an MD-10; FedEx converted their DC-10s to the MD designation by introducing a glass cockpit and eliminating the need for a flight engineer. FedEx was the only carrier to do so.
Two weeks later, FlightAware reported that the specific aircraft I'd photographed had flown to Southern California Logistics Airport (KVCV) in Victorville, California. KVCV does renovation work on aircraft as well as storing hundreds of planes on-site. The aircraft I'd photographed has not left KVCV since; this indicated to me that it has been retired.
My suspicions were confirmed by an article I read this week. FedEx has reportedly retired all MD-10-10 aircraft from its fleet as of 2021-06-04. The company still operates MD-10-30 and MD-10-40 types, but its original MD-10-10 fleet is no more.
I have a lot of thoughts about the DC-10, some of which I've included in other posts. I'll write them out here someday. For now, though, all I'll say that is that the MD-10-10 will be missed. It has served us well.
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[Last updated: 2021-10-28]