McDonnell Douglas MD-10

The McDonnell Douglas MD-10 is the designation given to a DC-10 airliner fitted with the Advanced Common Flightdeck, a glass cockpit whose instrument layout is identical to that of the MD-11. The conversion program was launched in September 1996 when FedEx ordered 60 conversions, and Boeing carried it on after its merger with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. The new cockpit removed the flight engineer position, so the aircraft is flown by two pilots instead of the three the original DC-10 needed, and pilots can hold a single certification for both the MD-10 and the MD-11. Boeing rolled out the first MD-10 freighter at Long Beach in March 1999 and the type first flew in April 1999. FedEx was the launch customer and operated the converted freighters beside its MD-11 fleet, and a small number of MD-10-30F freighters were still in commercial service in 2024.