"The World On Time".... FedEx MD-11

[Wingding]

Quite literally, haulin' the mail. This set is broken into three sections - here is section 1...


At the FedEx "Super Hub" and headquarters, Memphis International (TN). Loaded up and ready for pushback. It's 2:30 a.m. local time, and the daily "airlift" of the world's largest fleet of aircraft has just begun. This morning's flight will take us from Memphis (KMEM) to Toronto-Pearson Int'l (CYYZ) with a full load on the MD-11. I'm easy to spot - I'm the only one with the green lettering.





Oh, sure! It looks busy to you, but for us "cargo dogs", this is another day on the line...




There we are, at the hold-short point. I didn't get a good picture of it, but had to laugh - we were all held up for a lone UPS arrival. I bet he felt out of place! Oh, well... my co-pilot confirmed the pre-takeoff checklist is complete, so we're just waiting our turn.





"V-1....Rotate....V-2". Picture perfect!




Turning quickly North, they just cleared the 727 for takeoff and the other DC-10 to climb up and wait. Turn and burn, baby!




We have the three turbines giving us their best during our climbout, screaming for the stars at over 2,500 fpm. Man, this thing can climb!




That's us, clipping nicely along at FL350. We dialed in .84 on the speedo, and with a bit of a tailwind, we're making about 540kts over the ground. Nice and smooth in the cold air as we streak north-northeast towards Toronto.




She's a beauty, aint she? Big and ugly on the ground, and as beautiful as an ice-princess in the air, right at home where she belongs.




Here we are in our initial descent, making a few slow turns on our way down. The weather was "iffy" for Toronto, which was reporting and forecasting a thick cloud layer with a low ceiling and snow flurries, although only light winds. Up ahead, we see nothing but a thick cloud layer over the Toronto area. We might be in for a bit of a ride.... "Keep the dirty side down" I keep telling myself....





hold on to your hat.... part II coming in the reply!

[Wingding]

Part 2 - descent!

We've been dropping out of our cruise altitude for a while, coasting our way "downhill". What awaits us in these clouds is yet to be seen. In the mean time, my co-pilot and I are taking in the beautiful sights of the moon-lit cloud tops.




I look out the left for one of my favorite views... watching the aircraft penetrate that top layer of fluffy stuff. This stuff is looking thick enough to land on!




Here's the shot the co-pilot took, out the right side. Cool, isn't it?




We've leveled off at 9,000 feet, just skimming along the tops of the clouds. ATC is being nice and letting us hang out up here as long as we can before dropping into the quagmire below.




Down we go, slowing even more as we start dropping flaps. The clouds are thick - nothing but white in every direction.




We break out and are just skirting along the bottom layer. Some of the clouds look like they're "dripping", and you can see small areas of snowfall in the distance, in almost every direction. We can't even see the airport yet. More flaps... gotta pay close attention to this one!




Here's another turn, in a bit of a "clearing". It won't last long though, I'm sure of it...




Sure enough! Snow!




Down we go again, to 2,700 feet. We can just make out the runway lights in the distance as we approach the IAF. Looks like we get another small break in the weather, but the runway is still obscured...




12 miles out, about to intercept the glideslope. Gear down and locked, 25 on the flaps please!







One more section coming in the reply... landing!

[Wingding]

Part 3 (finally, right?)...


Here we are, poking our way down to the TDZ along the glideslope. The runway was pretty well lit when we hit our minimums, so I shut off the autopilot and coaxed the bird down the pipe by hand. A bit of a breeze off our left about 10 degrees, but nothing out of the ordinary.... aside from the snow. (I have no idea why the landing lights don't show up in this shot... perhaps because this is from the video replay and not the actual flight)





I left all the shields up (wing and nacelle anti-ice), as the temp is still hovering right at freezing, and I can't risk any icing on a go-around, if necessary. The snow looks cool, but is very dizzying in the landing lights!




Bingo! Touchdown! It was actually pretty smooth, all-in-all. From this angle, you can really get a sense of how massive those "barn door" flaps and spoilers are, in comparison to the wing.




The nose is starting to settle as we bleed off all that lift and airspeed.




Well, I was "Juuuuust a bit outside". Kinda neat to see the middle set of skid-marks from the center gear.




And the nose finally settles...




We're clearing the runway and beginning to "clean her up".




Finishing up the taxi checklist, we're good to go and just in time for the cargo docks; our next left.




Turning in to the FedEx ramp, we can see the ground-rats bundled up like little Eskimo's in their parkas, trying to stay as warm as they can while the load and unload thousands of pounds of packages.




"Shut-down checklist complete, Captain." My co-pilot tells me. Ahh! Now, where did I put my own parka? They really ought to put jetways out here for us!






Well, this concludes this morning's flight! I hope you enjoyed and hopefully our next flight will be to a warmer climate!

[KLMexicana]

nice scheme

[Smutley]

Smashing set of shots.

[Smiffy]

Great shots

[Constinator25]

I LOVE the Fedex MD-11, fantastic shots.

[davestan_ksan]

Beautiful shots, really enjoyed them!!

[NMLW]

Nice group of low-light shots.

[Wingding]

Thanks I guess y'all didn't notice - in the 3rd or 4th shot - all the other FedEx aircraft parked all the way across the field at some of the terminal gates, did'ja? I guess PAI has too many flights and I still don't have enough parking spots! LOL!

Sorry for all the shots, too... I guess I was just a bit shutter-happy and really pleased with the iFDG model and livery. I got a panel to use, but there is a problem with one of the gauges that crashes FS to desktop before loading the flight, so I stuck with an older DC-10 panel. I also didn't show you that I actually had a go-around at Toronto... hence some of the snow and lack-of snow pics for the final approach.

Anyhoo... back to life on the line!