1972
Early 1972 | Mc Donnell - Douglas presents the DC-10 TWIN project, a twin-engined DC-10 version which should compete with the Airbus A300B. |
January 17th | Iberia orders three DC-10-30s and places five options. |
February 9th | A DC-10 has an incident with engine #3 near New York. |
February 23rd | Laker acquires two DC-10-10s by taking up two of the five aircraft ordered by Mitsui for All Nippon Airways. |
February 28th | The first DC-10-20 (later DC-10-40), 46750/ 28, makes its 4h 10 min maiden flight. |
February | Martinair Holland orders four DC-10-30F(CF). |
April 10th | Upon request of Northwest Orient Airlines, the DC-10-20 is resignated DC-10-40. |
April 12th | VIASA orders two DC-10-30s. |
April 14th | Continental recieves its first DC-10-10. |
April | Continental Airlines orders three DC-10-10CFs and becomes launch costumer for this model. |
June 5th | Aeroméxico orders two DC-10-30s. |
June 11th | On a flight from Detroit to Buffalo, NY the cargo door of American Airlines'46503/ 5 blows open over Windsor Ontario. The severely damaged aircraft returns safely to Detroit. This becomes known as the "Windsor Incident". |
June 21st | The first DC-10-30, 46550/ 46, makes its 5h 25 min maiden flight from Long Beach. |
July 3rd | Service bulletin 52-27 was issued to replace the infamous cargo door closing system. This recommendation was only followed seriously by United Airlines, while all other operators were very slow in implementing the modifications. |
July 21st | A DC-10-10 (46705/ 33) called Friendship ’72 makes a sales tour around Asia, Europe and through the United States. |
September | The DC-10 TWIN is renamed DC-X-200. |
September 25th | THY Turkish Airlines agrees to acquire the other three DC-10-10s from the Mitsui contract. |
October | A DC-10-40 is on sales tour in Asia and South America. |
October 27th | The DC-10-40 gets the FAA type certification. |
November 10th | Northwest Orient Airlines recieves its first DC-10-40, 46752/ 53 |
November 21st | The DC-10-30 gets the FAA type certification. KLM and Swissair receive their first aircraft, KLM's 46551/ 60 and Swissair's 46575/ 57.
Laker Airways introduces the DC-10 in Europe with a DC-10-10 flight from London/ Gatwick to Palma de Mallorca. |
November 30th | VARIG orders two plus two DC-10-30s |
December 13th | Northwest Orient Airlines inaugurates DC-10-40 service with a fligth from Minneapolis/ St. Paul to Milwaukee. |
December 15th | A Swissair DC-10-30 makes the first transatlantic DC-10 flight from Zurich to Montreal. |