"Aerodynamically the Scud (MD11) is a disaster. The reasons are: High wing loading, crude flaps, small tailplane, large mass of center engine far aft, main-gear well aft of wing's center of lift, poor brakes and permanent engagement of control wheel steering.

These combine to produce the following characteristics on a typical approach:

• High speed -- 160 knots with flaps 35 at MLW [Max Landing Weight]. Flaps 50 can be used but cause uncomfortable buffeting, and Vref [landing reference speed] in that case is reduced by only 5 knots. The flaps are simply hinged below the trailing edge like on a Piper, none of the area-increasing triple-slotted mechanical marvels of the 747!
• Poor elevator control and undesirable, mostly pitch-up, effects caused by the inertia of the massive center engine so far aft. There are 4 (yes FOUR) pitch stability augmentation channels that are artificially enhancing stability and interfering with longitudinal control, particularly close to the ground. There have been many LSAS [Longitudinal Stability Augmentation System] software patches to try and calm this down.
• Generally sloppy control response because of control wheel steering (CWS) break-out forces with constant kick-backs, something that many pilots never get used to.
• Landing technique is to start the flare at around 40 feet, relax the back pressure at around 10 feet or even push forward! Any attempt to pull back close to the ground simply rotates the main gear onto (or into!) the runway. The result is a bounce followed by a heavy landing. The pictures of wrecked MD-11s lying upside down graphically show the possible outcomes.
• The approach handling is made worse by permanently engaged control wheel steering, not a favorite of this pilot. The [LSAS] was an attempt to dynamically make up for the smaller (than DC-10) horizontal tail. Courtesy of this further artificiality, pilot elevator pitch inputs can control both the stabilizer setting and the elevator.
• After touch down (or impact!), the nose has to be brutally pushed down to get the nosewheel on as soon as possible, otherwise spoilers, reverse and braking are unavailable.
• The brakes are poor because only the wing gear is directly load bearing. The center-gear pivots forward and has very reduced ground contact pressure. That means effectively only 8 wheels braking 200 tons (versus 16 wheels and 250 tons for the 747). Landing distance required at MLW flap 50, calm wind at sea level on a 20 degree day with no slope is 2,300ms dry, 2,600m wet!"

Source: An anonymous ex-FedEx MD-11 captain from Hamble, UK, known as "694C")