Hand Flew an MD-11 Simulator Last Night

kontiki

kontiki

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Kontiki
Three of us had an MD-11 full motion sim to ourselves for 4 hours of technical training last night. We didn't operate it in full motion mode and most of our time was spend on ground troubleshooting techniques, but in the last hour I got to hand fly it from MEM to ALT.

This sim is an exact match of one of our fleet birds, the graphics are amazingly realistic.

I asked them to turn the autopilot off, just to see how hard it is to control. Heading wasn't bad but altitude control was very hard. I had no idea where to put anything to keep it out of over speed.

When the systems that dampen the Dutch roll were turned off the oscillations could make you sick if you looked out the window (just sitting there still). I found it impossible to keep it steady, but didn't make it worse.

In as much as it was all about understanding the airplane, we simulated an engine fire and shutdown (#2) and really I had no idea how to manage power or speed brakes and flaps, and the guys were messing with everything while I tried to follow the flight plan. Couple minutes with the hud, a couple minutes with auto throttle doing something, etc.

It was a real handful for me. The ALT landing was visual and a little wild. I was still trying to get it down and we were down (just 40 ft up), so braking at the end of the runway was a little hairy. Once I went visual, I never thought to look back at the Radio Altimeter for flare or reversers.

It was one of the cooler nights at work. I definitely owe the trainer a ride in the Grumman.
 
what do you do?

I maintain the T-6 simulators on Columbus Air Force Base. If you come down to this area let me know. Ill bring you to fly them as well as the t-38 and the T-1 sim.
 
That sounds really cool. I've wanted to get to try a good sim and see what it's like. Plus, MD-11 = super cool. :yes:
 
I'm an Avionics Engineer in a 24x7 Engineering Support Center for Airline Maintenence.
 
Pretty cool isn't it? I got 2 hrs private in Douglas' MD 11 sim at LGB from their chief test pilot courtesy of an old instructor of mine who was their chief aerodynamicist.
 
Henning said:
Pretty cool isn't it? I got 2 hrs private in Douglas' MD 11 sim at LGB from their chief test pilot courtesy of an old instructor of mine who was their chief aerodynamicist.
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It really is very cool and it's a dated airplane too. If you put any of the systems in a manual mode, it automatically configures it to a fail-safe configuration as a starting point. With auto throttle disconnected, I over sped the flaps and auto throttle came back on line to pull the power back.

The Navigation Display didn't show any terrain but at 35,000 ft I guess who cares.
 
simtech said:
what do you do?

I maintain the T-6 simulators on Columbus Air Force Base. If you come down to this area let me know. Ill bring you to fly them as well as the t-38 and the T-1 sim.
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I flew the sims at moody before our t-6s and t-38s left. Great times
 
Cool! One of the highlights of my life was spending a little time in a 727 simulator.
 
bartmc said:
M40 is just up the road from where I grew up... probably going to fly in there in the next week or two.
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Monroe County. Let me know and if your interested Ill bring you to the sims. You from Columbus?
 
The FedEx MD-11 sims are the best sims that I've flown. My airline briefly used them while the Ex-Delta MD-11 sim was moved to Memphis. It now resides at PanAm.

The -11 isn't as hard to hand fly with time and experience. The pitch is sensitive because the CG is controlled to go back to the aft limit. It's a finger tip plane in pitch.
 
simtech said:
Yeah some of the T-6 sims came here from moody as did some of the tech's and IP's. Did you know any of them?
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I cannot remember any names. They were older gentleman who wore flight suits. I was supposed to get some time in the A-10c sim when they arrived but it never happened.
 
jonnyjetprop said:
The -11 isn't as hard to hand fly with time and experience. The pitch is sensitive because the CG is controlled to go back to the aft limit. It's a finger tip plane in pitch.
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You mean they load the airplanes to the aft limit?
 
jonnyjetprop said:
Yes, the MD-11 automatically transfers fuel to and from a tank in the horizontal stabilizer to maintain a specific aft limit.
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I talked to one of the folks that works in the group that maintains the software for weight and balance on the MD-11s.

I think he said that the CG for that huge airplane must always reside within a square area about 2 ft by 1 foot. It's amazing when you think about it. Max gross takeoff weight is maybe somewhere over 600,000 lbs.
 
kontiki said:
I talked to one of the folks that works in the group that maintains the software for weight and balance on the MD-11s.

I think he said that the CG for that huge airplane must always reside within a square area about 2 ft by 1 foot. It's amazing when you think about it. Max gross takeoff weight is maybe somewhere over 600,000 lbs.
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As I understand it (from talking to a retired FedEx check airman) is that when they (can't remember if it was the initial MD design or something Boeing did when they took it over) significantly reduced the horizontal stabilizer area compared to what it is on the DC-10. As a result, it is very pitch and CG sensitive.
 
Fearless Tower said:
As I understand it (from talking to a retired FedEx check airman) is that when they (can't remember if it was the initial MD design or something Boeing did when they took it over) significantly reduced the horizontal stabilizer area compared to what it is on the DC-10. As a result, it is very pitch and CG sensitive.
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That was MD, not Boeing.

Boeing inherited the MD-11 well after they were placed in service.
 
Fearless Tower said:
As I understand it (from talking to a retired FedEx check airman) is that when they (can't remember if it was the initial MD design or something Boeing did when they took it over) significantly reduced the horizontal stabilizer area compared to what it is on the DC-10. As a result, it is very pitch and CG sensitive.
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The aft CG was all about fuel specifics and making the promised/advertised range. The only reason they were allowed it was the fly by wire system.
 
Henning said:
The aft CG was all about fuel specifics and making the promised/advertised range. The only reason they were allowed it was the fly by wire system.
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I was referring more to the tight CG window rather than the aft CG itself.
 
Just goes to show why type ratings are needed!
 
The horizontal stab is 30% smaller on a MD-11 than the DC-10-30/40 series. It still has a longer moment arm because of the stretched fuselage.

The CG control is important for range. Depending on the ZFW CG, the penalty for not having tail fuel management can be as high as 2.7%.

No fly by wire in the MD-11. It's still a cable driving a hydraulic actuator plane. There's a Longitudinal Stability Augmentation System (LSAS) that is similar to a yaw dampener but in the pitch axis. The plane can be flown with that system off, though.
 
simtech said:
what do you do?

I maintain the T-6 simulators on Columbus Air Force Base. If you come down to this area let me know. Ill bring you to fly them as well as the t-38 and the T-1 sim.
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Sounds like a fun job. What training do you have?
 
simtech said:
what do you do?

I maintain the T-6 simulators on Columbus Air Force Base. If you come down to this area let me know. Ill bring you to fly them as well as the t-38 and the T-1 sim.
Click to expand...
I'm only a short hop in the Mooney from you guys. That sounds fun.
 
glad you had fun...most sims are more sensitive in the pitch than the real thing...I'm sure you saw and felt how much momentum is in play.
 
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