The McDonnell Douglas DC-10 is an American trijet wide-body aircraft manufactured by McDonnell Douglas.
The DC-10 was intended to succeed the DC-8 for long-range flights. It first flew on August 29, 1970; it was introduced on August 5, 1971, by American Airlines.
McDonnell Douglas DC-10
A prototype during flight testing, the DC-10 made its first flight on August 29, 1970.
Continental Airlines six-abreast interior in 1973
The DC-10 has a three-crew cockpit including a flight engineer.
A trijet is a jet aircraft powered by three jet engines. In general, passenger airline trijets are considered to be second-generation jet airliners, due to their innovative engine locations, in addition to the advancement of turbofan technology. Trijets are more efficient than quadjets, but not as efficient as twinjets, which replaced trijets as larger and more reliable turbofan engines became available.
One of the first trijets was the Boeing 727 airliner.
Dassault Falcon 900EX. The 900 and its derivatives, the Falcon 7x and 8x, are the only trijets in the world currently in production.
"Straight-through" central engine layout on the DC-10-based KC-10
The McDonnell Douglas MD-11 is the most recent airliner-size trijet produced.