McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10
The original domestic trijet — American and United's coast-to-coast wide-body · First flight 1970 · In service 1971
The DC-10-10 is the original DC-10, built for the busy US domestic routes that needed a wide-body but not a 747. American Airlines (25 aircraft) and United Airlines (30 plus 30 options) launched the programme in 1968. The first aircraft flew on 29 August 1970, and American opened service on 5 August 1971 with a Los Angeles–Chicago round trip; United followed later the same month.
The -10 was powered by three General Electric CF6-6 engines — the first civil version of the CF6 family — and stood on just two main landing gear legs, which is the easiest way to tell it from the later long-range models. American's early cabins seated up to 206 passengers and United's 222. Continental, Laker Airways and others flew it too, and a convertible -10CF went to Continental and United.
122 DC-10-10s were built between 1970 and 1981, plus seven DC-10-15s — a -10 fitted with the more powerful CF6-50 engines for hot-and-high airports, ordered by Mexicana and Aeroméxico. After the 1979 crash of American Flight 191, a -10, the FAA temporarily banned all DC-10s from US airspace. Many -10s later became FedEx freighters, and Orbis International flew one as its Flying Eye Hospital.
