MD-11 swissair (Ultimate MOD)

MD-11 REDUX
Scale-looking McDonell Douglas MD-11 Airliner with interior and transparent glass windows in the 1990s Swissair (Switzerland) livery.

Actually the first aircraft of my builds to undergo that fuselage modification (the 747 was second) , this MD-11 which was the first one build here on SR2/JNO with interior a few years back, is now probably the closest to most "scale-looking" I could possibly make it to be. Aside from a smoother fuselage surfaces, I also entirely modified the wing using the stock wing of the new game version - this dramatically increased the lift factor of this plane and has made it a "rocket" at take-offs. I wanted to make the wing as super scale as possible although the lack of shaping option for wings limits the particular look I wanted for it. Still the flaps are as close to real life as they really are in this mod.  I also spent hours modifying the size and shape of vertical tail fin and the corresponding third engine - now I think this is also the closest I could possibly make them to look like the real one. The I also changed the belly panel bumps to make it look like the real one while the engine exhaust cowls are last minute additions.  The cockpit is now also interactive - Basic essential switches like those on the engine, landing gear and spoilers, as well as lights - nothing fancy. Finally I just very recently learned about that "text panel" trick where I could put logos with monochrome colors on them using a certain website (by @theqiqi?) I'm very late but thanks to it I could do more liveries much easier. Now I could finally look at the real "swissair" font letters on my plane with smile. All this with a smaller parts count of just around 490 (the previous plane had almost 700 parts). Should be more mobile friendly.

This will be my final version of the MD-11, and  while I already applied this mod to my KLM and American DC-10 planes, I will probably make few more airliner liveries for this airplane in the future.

As a personal note, People often associate this particular Swissair MD-11 to the doomed flight 111, that is understandable. To me - I had some real nostalgia with this plane and airliner. Back in 1999-2001-ish, a 9 or 10 year old me who lives on a town close to the airport vividly remember a very loud screaming plane whose take off is so high everyone could see it by 9:30 PM, 3 or 4 times a week. I always go out for from my house to take a look at it and I remember that distinct "white cross on a red tail"  illuminated by the planes logo light. I had no idea way back then what airline was it, perhaps it was "a plane by the Red Cross"? It flies in tandem of the FedEx plane who also look the same. And Then one day I could see the plane no more. Only many years after that I learned that the plane I saw was the Swissair MD-11s, and never thought that the airline itself became bankrupt and disappeared. Today I ponder with smile the thought of, once upon a time, this legendary airline flew to our obscure city and connected us to Europe at a time when all other European airlines have left out our city as destination. That is a story I needed to tell as a life long aviation enthusiast!

INSTRUCTIONS
(WING MOD)
*Ignore the warnig issues message before spawning the craft - this plane uses parts from older versions of the game - it does not affect the performance.

°Take-off speed is now around 90m/s

°Set flaps to 36+40 EXTENDED (Slider 1 = down)

°once off the ground, the plane will
excessively pitch up after landing gear retraction (it will tend to shoot up almost vertical) prevent this by applying a fixted elevator nose down to until you reach an altitude of about 3000m.

°At 3000mtrs, retract flaps to neutral (Slider 1 = 0)

°Decrease throttle power to 80%

°With the Pitch Slider (Elevator), set a small, nose up trim of about 9-12% (PITCH SLIDER = Down pos) and keep it set to reach cruising altitude. Altitude ceiling is now at 12,000 mtrs at airspeed around 260m/s.