From what I remember of those air disasters involving the DC-10, the ones involved were the series 10 models. After reading a book called Destination Disaster which covered the accident in Paris in 1974, I refused to fly on a DC-10. In the book, there were comments about how Douglas had cut corners to get the plane out before the L-1011. How true that is, I don't know but after the accident in Chicago in May of '79 and the suspected causes, I was convinced that the DC-10 was just a bad plane that Douglas produced out of the great ones they built in years gone by.

I have heard that the series 40 DC-10 was the best model built by Douglas and for the first time ever, I flew one that Northwest Airlines had on a flight from Los Angeles to Minneapolis.

I guess we remember the earlier crashes of the DC-10 because so many lives were lost in a single crash that was unheard of in those days.

--Sean

The DC-10 was plagued by a series of fatal crashes during the Super70s. One outside of Paris in 1974 led to the redesign of a cargo door. Another crash near Chicago in 1979 led to all United States DC-10s being grounded for at least a month; it was blamed on an engine falling off and the plane going out of control and crashing.

Nonetheless, the DC-10 has been successfully marketed as a cargo/tanker for use by the U. S. Air Force, the KC-10 Extender. It can carry more fuel than the KC-135 Stratotanker (the military version of the Boeing 707). The KC-10 has served in the 1991 Gulf War and in other conflicts, from what I understand.

The DC-10 was replaced by the MD-11, but that was phased out after McDonnell Douglas was bought out by Boeing during the late 1990s.

I remember seeing the first of the DC10s joining Air New Zealand in the mid Super70s, to much fanfare (a small nation suddenly got a big air-craft.) Unfortunately, I also remember our DC-10 flying smack into Mt Erebus, Antarctica, killing everyone on board. Oh dear. We bought 747s after that. [Editor's note: To be fair, the Erebus crash was not due to any fault of the DC-10.]

--Kiwikid

The DC10 was a magnificant aeroplane that was dogged by airline complacency. There is nothing like an airline being told what they must do!! Disgusting comes to mind. If you want my addres I live in Siberia

--Anonymous