Link to the french report: REPORT EN FRANCAIS ICI
I'm very pleased to translate this report from french to english and to add more pictures from the last Swiss -MD11 flights on October 31st 2004.
I was fortunate enough to be a cabin crew aboard the DC10-30, the MD11 older version, and then for 3 years on the MD11. Those two birds are my absolute favorites, I loved every flight with them. Both plane were flying with a slight angle, as the engine #02 was on the tail, making crews telling they go upwards to the cockpit and downwards to the galleys. It was much harder for the legs to work aboard those planes, compared to airliners that flew almost flat. But still, it was a pleasure to work with this two fellows.
Pictures will tell more than a long story, here's the report. It was a ZRH-ZRH flight with a low pass over BRN, and Alps sightseeing. Unfortunately the weather was quite bad, so not that much sightseeing. The flight time was one hour, and this was the second last operating. After ours, a second flight was conducted.
We arrived the day before to enjoy an afternoon of spotting at ZRH airport, and we were treated by an ex-SR MD- (ex HB-IWT), with neutralized colors for a maintenance visit. The a/c has been in open storage in Mojave before being sold to Transmile as a cargo bird, and then sold to Fedex where it still flies today.
Stored at Mojave: [url=http://jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php'id=5904801&nseq=0][b]MOJAVE[/b][/url]
Arriving at Zurich: [url=http://www.planespotters.net/Aviation_Photos/photo.show'id=010241]A/ZURICH
Departing Zurich in 2005: [url=http://www.planespotters.net/Aviation_Photos/photo.show'id=036362][b]D/ZURICH[/b][/url]
Transmile time: [url=http://www.planespotters.net/Aviation_Photos/photo.show'id=300060]TRANSMILE
Fedex time: [url=http://www.planespotters.net/Aviation_Photos/photo.show'id=][b]FEDEX 01[/b][/url]
[url=http://www.planespotters.net/Aviation_Photos/photo.show'id=352204]FEDEX 02
TG MD-11, another one that belongs to the past:
Some A330-200 from Swiss, as well, a past story:
Alitalia / Embraer 170:
JAL / 772:
Fast forward to October 31st for the big event, here is the bird that arrived from Chicago, with the last passenger scheduled flight:
The cabin, clear and spacious:
In flight, with this absolutely amazing winglet:
External shoots:
And the big bird on ground in ZRH where we were allowed lots of pictures opportunities:
Thanks for sharing this historic report! Ah the MD-11 was (is) a beautiful bird! Sadly, I don't think I'll ever have the opportunity to fly one--the KLM ones are due to be retired soon and the routes they fly are not convenient for me with no direct access to YUL from WAS on SkyTeam.
Thanks for this FR.
I didn't know the MD11 flew at a slight angle, though it makes sense with the weight of the N°2 engine on the tail.
LX sure had a good idea to organise these celebration flights for avgeeks.
Thank you for sharing Esteban.
Swiss Air decided long ago to withdraw the MD-11 from its fleet on the contrary of KLM.
It was such a beautiful bird.
Lovely report and thank you for sharing this beautiful experience with great pics.
I was fortunate that the only time that I flew on an MD-11 was with LX and it was in F. I have wonderful memories from that trip and the LX crew was phenomenal. To this day that MIA-ZRH-MIA trip set the standard by which I measure every subsequent long haul F experience.