I always got the feeling that the MD11 was merely a partially updated version of the DC10, hurridly built in a last ditch attempt to strengthen brand loyalty to MDD among its loyal customers (Finnair, Swissair etc). At the time of its introduction, the A330, A340 and 777 were all under development and MDD knew that these machines would be light years ahead of the MD11 in virtually all respects. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to say that the MD11 was wholly significant of the state of MDD at that time and may even have partly been responsible for MDD’s eventual takeover by Boeing.