The first McDonnell Douglas DC-10 converted to MD-10 specification for the FedEx conversion programme was rolled out at Boeing's Long Beach site in California on 19 March.
The ex-United DC-10-10, dubbed "T-1", is the first of three test aircraft to be fitted with the advanced two-crew digital flightdeck at the core of the MD-10 upgrade programme, and is expected make its first flight in late March or early April.
The Honeywell-based flightdeck is the second part of the MD-10 conversion effort which is expected to include up to 120 DC-10s. The first stage covers the passenger to freight conversion of ex-airline aircraft, mainly American and United DC-10-10s. The second stage, which is applicable to all of FedEx's DC-10s, covers the conversion of the flightdeck.
T-1 has not yet been converted to freighter configuration, and the second test MD-10, T-2, is a FedEx DC-10-30 Freighter.
The third aircraft, T-3, is a DC-10 which is being completed at Aeronavali in Italy. The test programme is expected to cover 900 flight hours and around 350 flights, and culminate in US Federal Aviation Administration certification around March 2000.
Source: Flight International
