The last existing McDonnell-Douglas MD-11 passenger aircraft – owned by KLM Royal Dutch Airlines – landed at Sea-Tac Airport on the foggy morning of Sunday, Jan. 11, 2015, then departed for its final flight on Monday, Jan. 12. The airplane stopped to refuel on its way to being dismantled at the Mohave Air & Space Port in Mohave, California. Photographer Francis Zera was on the scene of this historic moment in aviation, and he shot the following slideshow:

Click to Play Click to Play Francis Zera’s Slideshow
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11 replies on “SLIDESHOW: Last passenger MD-11 stops at Sea-Tac en route to final destination”

  1. My flight to cover my first plane crash was on this airplane. It got me to where the 707 crashed. Not a nice day.

  2. Does anybody know what kind of planes are firing up at 3 am at Sea Tac? Are they 727 Freighters? Do they have any MD11 Freighters?

    1. Loren…yes,.they’ve become our alarm clock more often now, too…including last night/this morning. Some in my house think it might be maintenance work?

      1. Hi Shari,
        It has been going on as long as I have lived in Burien. For some reason the older freighters fly out in the middle of the night.
        Anybody know the reason why?

        1. They’re usually freighters leaving in the wee hours, including but not limited to FedEx. There are not a lot of passenger planes coming or going in the middle of the night.. Departure times for freighters are determined largely by landing slots and connecting flights at the destination, just like passenger planes, but without the difficulty of accommodating passengers who don’t like a 3 AM departure.
          You can go to WebTrak and identify the carrier, the flight number, flight path and destination among other things.
          http://webtrak5.bksv.com/sea4

        2. They leave in the middle of the night because that’s when they get loaded up. Fed-Ex flights leave around 4-6 AM because the inbound flights come in around 3pm-8pm and need to be unloaded and re-loaded. Same goes for other heavy weigh freight flights. They get filled during graveyard shifts. (I know first hand when Fed-Ex heads back to Tennessee to their hub)

    2. Does anybody know what kind of planes are firing up at 3 am at Sea Tac?
      I would guess air planes???
      sorry.

  4. Hi Shari,
    It has been going on as long as I have lived in Burien. For some reason the older freighters fly out in the middle of the night.
    Anybody know the reason why?

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