Boeing MD-11 (N285UP)

not a very good landing there

too tough

Actually, this landing is not a bad one. While it may be flared a bit too much, it is almost in the middle of the touchdown zone.

Landing seems ok but Lots of burnt rubber indicates- high approach speed I guess

Where did this occur?

it looks like the landing gears are wrongly positioned at 90 degrees off the path ! How is this possible for an expert in synchronization?

No spoiler landing, presumably is why it was a little heavy?

Locked breaks IMO

For BREAKS read BRAKES

Its 'ops'! flight not UPS!!!

I see 8 responses and most are incorrect. It is not a very good landing. It is short and prior to the touchdown zone. The brakes are not locked up. The approach speed was probably low hence the high attitude and early touchdown. Spoilers will be coming up very shortly. No idea about what "90 degrees off path" means.

I support eprn1n2

My favorite landing shot I've seen!

Although this pic is nice, I agree with Eprn1n2 about the landing specifications...

That's not a landing. That's a burnout on takeoff.

UPS and Fedex have a history of landing incidents with MD-11 aircraft. A company in White Plains (I can't recall the name but something like flight systems inc.) has been contracted to develop an improved angle of attack system for this aircraft. My brother flew them for Delta back in the 90s and remarked to me that it was not a fun airplane to land.

Delta never had any Md- 11s , we had about 5 DC-10s leased while awiating delayed delivery of our L-1011s Acrft.Insp. ( Ret,)

It's a great photo & you got your package, move on....

Yes Delta had MD-11s. They were based out of Portland and did the North Pacific routes.

A moment well captured!

Wow

I agree with Jean Calmes - the wheels on the right (starboard) main undercarriage appear to be aligned at 90 degrees to the direction of travel - maybe the port side is or is not. Such an unfortunate set-up would certainly produce a lot of smoke! Actually, the starboard smoke appears to be emanating from the rear wheel of the three-wheel set. This wheel would touch ground first and if 90 degrees out of alignment would generate lots of smoke.

If management sees a photograph of a poor landing, would the pilot be reprimanded? Or would management already know because of the flight data and documentation?

I think must have something to do with the reason almost all of my UPS deliveries arrive damaged!

If the landing gear are oriented 90 degrees from the direction of travel, that would mean that the plane was flying completely sideways and the landing gear would collapse under the intense lateral stresses. It may be possible that the crew had to crab the landing, which would likely produce more tire smoke, but 90 degrees is absolutely impossible.

Nice Trap, GO NAVY. Talk about using all the tarmac! Must be a short runway. Thankfully there's no wind. Used to love watching the freighters leaving DEN early in the mornings when I was prestarting the ground equipment and enjoying a coffee and a smoke! I liked the FEDEX pilots the best,, it was like my very own airshow every morning! I would park my tug at the end of the horse shoe at the end of terminal B and just enjoy ! :)

Hence the meaning of a " Controlled Crash"?

This is a hard but A-OK landing. Runways is not short, it's about 10000ft long (4km almost) - and was a certified runway for the spaceshuttle. My shot looks spectacular but nothing dangerous.

New robber all around please!

first of all too early,fast,overloaded.fed ex and ups overload these planes,he or she did the best she could.very hard to land these planes as well

Lol it looks like if it made a sharp 90 degree angle n pop a wheelie. BOss

ANY landing you can walk away from, is a good one!
MUST HAVE BEEN X NAVY PILOT AND HE PLANTED IT ON THE NUMBE 3 WIRE! SHORT FIELD I WOULD QUESS....

Must have a teenager driving her.

Being a pilot, I agree with Jesse, Any Landing You Can Walk Away From Is A Good Landing.
Love some of the other comments, like CB Hardy's. He's a thinker.

CARGA MAL DISTRIBUIDA?

......and you thought you were hard on your brakes.

The wheels are fine; look at the full-screen image and expand it as wide as you can. It's an optical illusion that at first glance does indeed look like the wheel trucks are off by 90 degrees.

It seems a very heavy landing... Maybe the gears can be damaged...

Buenisima captura

Drag racing DC-10 What a concept...Top Fuel Funny Plane : )

Firm plant! Nailed it. Grnd Ops will be scraping rubber off 14L-32R for days.

expensive smoke.

So this is way packages arrive late!

thanks,for all ,this was one lomg flight,but we got it finished,wet pants and all...lol

Nothing wrong with the landing it landed didnt it?

Wow, so many of the comments are so critical. How about "Great photo"?

Tail strike - worst I've ever seen!

If you can walk away, good landing!

A good landing is one that you can walk away from, AND re-use the airplane again!

what do you mean landing, that's what you call a UPS short field takeoff!

"I see my order of 1,255 anvils just arrived!"

Very nice photo of landing!

CRASH.

this is why your stuff arrives broken

Vulcansunray, I agree, port and starboard wheelsets seem to be disproportionately different in both size and shape!
However, the photographer says it was not an unusual landing???????

Diane: this is Cologne-Bonn (CGN)

Sorry just couldn't hold that in much longer!

nice

Took that last right turn a little tight....Just sayin.

smokeshow !

The comments by all the "professional pilots" on this photo are hilarious. 90 degree landing gear position? WTF?, spoilers not extended, "middle of the landing zone" and so on and so on. And it's not a "triple seven". Bitch needs to be planted.

Another clear example of why FedEx is "Varsity" and UPS "JV"
Full disclosure, I work for FedEx

Rough landing

wow

SO much bs on this comment thread! I fly the MD11 for UPS. First of all, it is not an easy airplane to land. At max gross landing weight the approach speed is 165 kts and a normal descent rate of close to 1000 fpm. Add to that heavy flight controls and gusty winds, not every landing is going to be a greaser.
Secondly, while FedEx does have “a history of landing incidents” with the MD11 having lost at least 2 airframes, UPS has not lost an MD11, and has had only one damaged nose gear from a rapid derotation. This is in part from the lessons learned from others mistakes.

Tail strike?

I messed with the image -- quite a bit :) the LEFT U/C is almost Certainly at FAULT, I see a margin for error in this statement at about 5%.
The gear may even be rotated more than 90 degrees as the tires appear circular and the aircraft is almost 45degrees to the view point!

Very common to see MD11's smoking the tires like this. See it all the time here at IND. We had 13 FedEx MD11 arrivals the other day, most of them smoked em' hard like this. I've seen dozens of Lufthansa MD11 Freighters landing 10C-C at ORD smoking them just like this. I've got several similar shots of the Lufty's landing shots just like this posted here. Great Shot Jens!