MD11 accidents/write off's.

page updated 29/03/14.

I was hoping not to have to add to this page but sadly this is not the case.

Thankfully airline accidents are quite rare but they do happen. Unfortuneatly, 7 MD11's have been written off over the years. Below is a brief summary of each. If anybody has a picture of N581FE i can put on this page i'd be grateful, have so far been unable to get a hold of one.

1) - 31/07/1997. Federal Express MD11F N611FE cn 48604/553 was destroyed after a heavy landing at New York's Newark airport inbound from Anchorage. After the landing and the resulting fire, the aircraft was destroyed. The 5 crew members escaped with minor injuries.

Pictured at Hong Kong Kai Tak in the mid 1990's is a gleaming N611FE. (Photo courtesy of Andrew Hunt)

2) - 02/09/1998. Swissair MD11 HB-IWF cn 48448/465 crashed into the sea off Peggy's Cove, NS whilst operating flight SR 111 New York to Geneva. Smoke was discovered in the cockpit which had been caused by electrical circuits that powered the first class IFE screens overheating. This eventually led to a fire which the crew were unable to deal with in time. Sadly, all 231 persons on board perished.

A Gleaming HB-IWF in happier times on a demonstration at Hamburg in 1991. (Photo courtesy of Kai Ziehl)

3) - 15/04/1999. Korean Air MD11F HL7373 cn 48409/490 was destroyed after crashing into an industrial estate after take off from Shanghai. The 3 crew and 4 people on the ground lost their lives in the accident.

Seen departing LAX in July 1996 is Korean MD11F HL7373. (Photo courtesy of Frank C.Duarte Jr.)

4) - 22/08/1999. Mandarin (China Airlines) MD11 B-150 cn 48468/518 was destoyed at Hong Kong's Chep Lap Kok airport whilst landing in a tropical storm. The aircraft had already made several attempts to land. On landing, the aircraft was flipped over after the right wing struck the ground and was torn off-it then caught fire. Miraculously only 3 people lost their lives. The aircraft's nose cone survives in Kansas.

B-150 on finals to Hong Kong Kai Tak in 1996 (Photo courtesy of Kai Ziehl)

5) - 17/10/1999. Federal Express MD11F N581FE cn 48419/450 overshot the runway whilst landing at Subic Bay in the Philippines whilst inbound from Shanghai and sank into the bay. The aircraft was written off but thankfully there were no fatalities.

6) - 22/03/2009. Fedex MD11F N526FE cn 48600 was destroyed after landing in strong winds at Tokyo's Narita aiport on a flight from Guangzhou. The aircraft appeared to bounce twice on the runway before flipping over and bursting into flames. Both crew members perished in the accident.

N526FE is seen in happier times landing at Manchester in April 2008. (Photo courtesy of Stewart Andrew)

7) - 28/11/2009. Avient MD11F Z-BAV CN 48408/457 was destroyed on take off from Shanghai's Pu Dong airport. The aircraft's tail apparently struck the runway and failed to take off, killing 3 of the 7 crew on board.

Avients MD11F Z-BAV at Miami shortly after its repaint from Varig livery in November 2009. (Photo courtesy of Robert Collazo)

8) - 27/07/2010. Lufthansa Cargo MD11F D-ALCQ CN 4843/534 was destroyed after crashing on landing at Riyadh. Operating flight LH8460 from Frankfurt, the aircraft had an uneventful flight but in final approach, it dipped slightly below the glide slope, and bounced twice resulting in major damage and the fuselage rupturing. When the aircraft came to a stop it was on fire too. Both crew members escaped

9) - 13/10/2012. Centurion Air Cargo MD11F N988AR cn 48434/476 suffered a heavy land at Viracopos airport in Sao Paolo, Brazil. The left main undercarriage leg sheared off and the no.1 engine struck the runway. The aircraft was scrapped on site

N988AR is pictured at Viracopos airport after its landing accident in 2012. (Thanks to Michael Kutner)