The McDonnell Douglas MD-11 is an American tri-jet wide-body airliner manufactured by American manufacturer McDonnell Douglas (MDC) and later by Boeing.
Following DC-10 development studies, the MD-11 program was launched on December 30, 1986. Assembly of the first prototype began on March 9, 1988. Its maiden flight occurred on January 10, 1990, and it achieved Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification on November 8. The first delivery was to Finnair on December 7 and it entered service on December 20, 1990.
McDonnell Douglas MD-11
The MD-11 on the left is 202 ft (61.6 m) long and has winglets and a smaller tailplane while the DC-10 on the right is 181.6 ft (55.35 m) long.
Nine-abreast economy class
The MD-11 has a center engine at the base of the vertical stabilizer, like the DC-10. Additionally, the nacelle has a bulge at the front, similar to the DC-10-40 variant.
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.