Captain RK Smithley flies McDonnell Douglas DC-10 fire bombers for New Mexico-based 10Tanker. Smithley dropped red fire retardant over the Palisades and Eaton fires in Los Angeles. Mountainous terrain ...

The McDonnell Douglas DC-10 and the Lockheed L-1011 TriStar are arguably the best aircraft of the trijet era. While both planes had several differences, what truly set them apart was the configuration ...

The DC-10 has been flying passengers on commercial flights since 1971, but that run has now come to an end. Biman Bangladesh Airlines had been the world's last passenger airline to use the ...

MESA — Its dropped more than 11 million gallons of fire retardant, flown 1195 missions, and battled wildfires around the world. The DC-10 is a critical firefighting asset but before it can take to the ...

Question: Why do you think the early wide-body jets like the DC-10 and L-1011 did not become major factors in airline fleets? — Submitted by reader Bob Hahn, Cocoa Beach, Fla. Answer: Cost and demand ...

In decades gone by, air travel was very exclusive indeed. In the late 1920s and the beginning of the commercial flight boom, two round-trip tickets for a flight across the United States cost as much ...

Northwest retired the last of its DC-10 aircraft from scheduled service Jan. 8, ending a 34-year run in which the airline used them to carry more than 125 million passengers, complete more than ...

TUCSON, Ariz. — They are the most visible piece of the firefighting effort, the DC-10 tankers. Nearly every day you'll see them flying near the Bighorn Fire dropping the red fire retardant. Dan ...

HOUSTON – I was asked this question about the Pauline Road Fire by Jackie Chassion. She asks, “Why are they not utilizing the big DC-10 aircraft retardant fire and water aircraft from California to ...

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Captain RK Smithley, a pilot flying McDonnell Douglas DC-10 widebody airliners converted into tanker planes for a New Mexico-based company called ...