T

he story of Pan Am’s McDonnell

Douglas DC-10s starts with

National Airlines, a domestic US

carrier based in Miami, Florida. In

1968 it ordered 11 of the short/medium-haul

-10 variant, with the  rst example (N60NA)

entering service on December 15, 1971. It

then ordered six DC-10-30s in 1972 with

the initial one, N80NA, joining the airline on

June 11, 1973.

Pan Am by this point was one of the

most famous airlines in the world  ying with

an extensive network of purely international

services. The Airline Deregulation Act of

1978 meant that US airlines could now  y

wherever they wanted; thereafter the only

government regulation was operational

oversight to ensure safety. While this

opened up international routes to domestic

carriers it also meant domestic  ying in

the US was possible for Pan Am. This

not only opened up a huge new source of

revenue but could also feed its international

services.

However, creating a domestic route

network would be a massive project. It

would mean opening dozens of new

stations, but also acquiring lots of aircraft.

Apart from a few Boeing 727s and 737s

for short-haul  ights in West Germany and

Europe (as part of the post-war settlement

in Europe, only US, French and British

airlines were allowed into West Berlin), Pan

Am had just long-haul aircraft. Pan Am’s

then chairman and CEO William T Seawell

and his team felt such a build-up would take

years and instead looked around for an

existing US domestic operation to buy, and

soon had National Airlines in their sights.

PAN AM

DC -10 s

A CURIOUS TALE

Charles Kennedy looks back at the service of the

McDonnell Douglas DC-10 as part of the Pan Am fl eet.

64 Aviation News incorporating Classic Aircraft May 2016

64-67_dc10DC.mfDC.mfDC.indd 64 07/04/2016 12:43