McDonnell Douglas MD-12
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The McDonnell Douglas MD-12 was a large wide-body airliner concept planned by McDonnell Douglas in the 1990s. It was first conceived as a trijet larger than the MD-11, then stretched to a quadjet airliner. It was to be similar in size to the Boeing 747, but with greater passenger capacity through two full-length passenger decks. However, the MD-12 received no orders and was canceled. McDonnell Douglas then studied larger MD-11 derivatives named MD-XX without proceeding.
Design and development
Background
McDonnell Douglas studied improved, stretched versions of the MD-11 trijet, named MD-12X[1] with a possible lower-front passenger deck with panoramic windows.[2][3] The MDC board of directors agreed in October 1991 to offer the MD-12X design to airlines. The MD-12X had a length of Template:Convert and a wingspan of Template:Convert. In November 1991, McDonnell Douglas and Taiwan Aerospace Corporation signed a Memorandum of Understanding to form a company to produce the new design. The new company would have McDonnell Douglas as the majority shareholder (51%) with Taiwan Aerospace (40%) and other Asian companies (9%) having the remaining shares.[3]
MD-12
In late 1991, McDonnell Douglas made a move to separate its civil and military divisions in a bid to raise the estimated $4 billion development costs needed to develop the MD-12X trijet. Separating the costly development of the military C-17 airlifter, which had been a drain on the company's resources, from the profit-making production of the MD-80 and MD-11 airliners would make it easier to attract foreign investors for the MD-12X.[4]
The design grew into the much larger MD-12 with four engines and two passenger decks extending the length of the fuselage. The length of the main MD-12 variants was Template:Convert with a wingspan of Template:Convert. The fuselage was Template:Convert wide by Template:Convert high.[3]
McDonnell Douglas unveiled its MD-12 design in April 1992.[3][5] The design was similar in concept to the Airbus A3XX and Boeing New Large Airplane, and it would have been larger than the Boeing 747 with which it would have directly competed. Douglas Aircraft also studied a smaller double-decker design in the 1960s for the aircraft that would eventually become the DC-10.[6][7]
The first flight of the MD-12 was to take place in late 1995, with delivery in 1997.[3] Despite aggressive marketing and initial excitement, especially in the aviation press, no orders were placed for the aircraft. MDC lacked the resources after Taiwan Aerospace left the project.[3] Some skeptics believed that MDC launched the project to lure Boeing into paying a higher price for the company.[8][9] A new double-deck widebody has proved to be extremely expensive and complex to develop, even for the remaining aerospace giants Boeing and Airbus. The massive Airbus A380, similar in concept to the MD-12, was eventually built,[10][11] but did not achieve financial success.[12]
MD-XX
With the MD-12 program over, McDonnell Douglas focused on 300 to 400–seat MD-11 derivatives. At the 1996 Farnborough International Air Show, the company presented plans for a new trijet with high-seating and long-range named "MD-XX".[13] The MD-XX was offered in two variants; MD-XX Stretch with a longer fuselage and MD-XX LR for longer range. Both MD-XX variant designs had Template:Convert wingspan, the same as MD-12. The MD-XX Stretch was lengthened Template:Convert over the MD-11 and had seating for 375 in a typical 3-class arrangement and 515 in all-economy seating. Its range was to be Template:Convert. The MD-XX LR was the same length as the MD-11, had seating for 309 in a typical 3-class arrangement and featured a range of Template:Convert. However, the MDC board of directors decided to end the MD-XX program in October 1996, stating the financial investment for the program was too large for the company.[3]
Variants
The MD-12 was offered in a few proposed variants as listed below.[3]
- MD-12 HC (High Capacity)
- MD-12 LR (Long Range)
- MD-12 ST (Stretch)
- MD-12 Twin (two-engine version)
Specifications (MD-12 High Capacity design)
See also
Related development
Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era
- Airbus A380
- Boeing NLA (proposed)
- Boeing 747-8
- Sukhoi KR-860 (proposed)
References
- Notes
External links
- Undeveloped MD-11/MD-12 models page on MD-Eleven.net
- "McDonnell May Build A Larger Jet", The New York Times, March 16, 1992
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- ↑ "MDC brochures for undeveloped versions of the MD-11 and MD-12." Template:Webarchive md-eleven.net. Retrieved: April 14, 2008.
- ↑ "MD-11 page." Airliners.net. Retrieved: October 18, 2007.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ MD-12 divides Douglas Flight International November 13–19, 1991.
- ↑ McDonnell Douglas MD-12 Australian Aviation issue 79 August 1992 pages 74-77
- ↑ Berek, D. "Proposed double deck DC-10 design in 1965." Template:Webarchive webshots.com, April 4, 2004. Retrieved: July 15, 2011.
- ↑ Waddington, Terry. McDonnell Douglas DC-10. Miami, Florida: World Transport Press, 2000. Template:ISBN.
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ "Airbus will lose €4.8bn because of A380 delays." The Times, October 4, 2006.
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- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ "McDonnell Douglas Unveils New MD-XX Trijet Design." Template:Webarchive McDonnell Douglas, September 4, 1996.