Understood. According to some pilots who fly the MD11, it's incredibly tricky to land because the control system is a nightmare. One pilot said it's the only transport category aircraft he's ever flown that has such an inherent lack of stability. The controls are set-up so they react like those in a fighter jet, so over-correcting is a big possibility. In incident after incident "overcontrol" is cited as a major contributing factor to crashes. The MD11 is also very tail heavy, with an aft CG. A stretched fuselage, a big engine in the tail, and a compromised empennage don't help. This probably helps explain the "nose-up" atitude you describe. Another reason for this is the lack of surface area on the horizontal stabilizer. I actually spent an hour today researching the "safety" of the MD11 more thoroughly. This plane has had a multitude of issues, many of which have been corrected. The main problem, however, is incurable in the sense that it would not be economically feasible to replace the horizontal stabilizer. You might find it interesting to know that most of the UPS MD11's came from Swissair, and are converted passenger planes. 229 people died when Swissair Flight 111 (an MD11) crashed into the Atlantic Ocean in 1996. The cause? Most likely, faulty wiring (another frequent MD11 issue) and the propensity for a supposedly fire retardant Mylar "blanket" to burn. It's sad, but UPS probably bought them for the same reason FedEx did....just to save money because they were the Yugos of the sky. This airplane is a lemon. Unfortunately, it tends to kill people.