(photo trivia) Guess the airport

It looks like it is; apparently the aircraft was being unloaded at LAX in 2004 as they forgot to put a stabilizer under the rear of the aircraft.

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But boondr said his friend took the picture last week?

Boondr said that the photo was from this week.
But it sure looks like the 2004 incident to me.

The pics I've seen of the 2004 LAX incident show a white tail.

No and no, I think either one of those locations would have made the news.

I believe the incident in LAX in 2004 was a dc10, this is an MD11. Of course I've been wrong before.

Yes, Iwakuni (at least in the 1980s) kept itself very distinct from, and influenced as little as possible by, the base. At that time some taxi drivers were hesitant to pick up non-Japanese males in town, thinking they probably wanted to go to the base, where they were not interested in driving.

DC-10 and MD-11 are part of the same design family as Douglas Commercial Aircraft was bought by McDonnell--

Understood but there are significant differences. (Winglets)

That and the notoriously difficult weight and balance of the MD-11, visually clear when viewing as in this photo. Of course you cannot see all the fuel movements inflight required on the MD-11, but it is clear that the rudder and tailplanes are doing a lot of work to support all taht extra mass, since they were not overly generously designed even in the DC-10.

But in the later variants (-500) the fuel movement was adjusted by the FMC. And the other major difference was the inclusion a Cat IIIc autopilot that enabled operations in zero-zero conditions.

In fact, during development of the DC-10, the L1011 was in competition and was a much better aircraft. But because the L1011's only engine manufacturer was Rolls Royce and they had gone into receivership, it set the completion back by 2 years.

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Somebody always brings up yet more arcane trivia. True, but despite some aircraft being capable and some airports having approved CATIIIC approaches no operator has ever been allowed to do one. Because of all the complexities of training, approvals, currency and operations nobody has ever thought it useful, especially because the aircraft would need to be towed off the runway. BTW, my KL MD-11 pilot friend tells me the FMS does not always handle fuel movement perfectly. I would not know, having never flown one nor been typed in one. OTOH, the L-1011 was a brilliant airliner, just a little too small for the market then. What a pity! I loved the GulfAir Five Star Tri-Star taht I often was a passenger in during the late 1970's.

sabenapilot on The Wing of the Web has some interesting accurate information IIRChttp://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/tech_ops/read.main/105924/
There are a fair number of carriers that do use CATIIIB, but even those are quite rare.

So I am confused. Was the image taken at LAX or is that incorrect?

Me too. boondr said that it wasn't LAX but it certainly loooks like the LAX incident. Link

It was NOT LAX, as you can see in superscot's photo the tail is white, in our photo the tail is blue. I was wrong and the LAX incident does appear to be an MD11, thus rendering our highly informative tangent irrelevant, but even at its most advantageous fuel/load configuration the MD11 would not be able to reach our destination from LAX.(according to wiki, I hold no responsibility for erroneous range figures)

ICN?

Since the tail is blue, let me guess this one more or less "out of the blue:" KBL?

No to both but KK is definitely closer.

AUH?

Moving further away, think about the "hint" I mentioned in the first photo as well as where World Airways might be flying.

Eh, I'm back to the drawing board. I thought I had narrowed down which World Airways aircraft this is since the pictures of their 6 MD11's show that only one has a blue tail like this one. Apparently that plane's flight history doesn't match where this picture was taken since all other airports for that tail number are within the aircraft's max range from LAX.

I'm usually very good with clues, and I see nothing helpful in the first post. This one might be over my head.

Actually, this in and of its self is a very good clue, where might that aircraft fly without "being on the books"? Remember KK was "definitely" closer

I was going to post KRT but that can't be right as KBL is closer than AUH.

yup still going the wrong way,

Think no regularly scheduled passenger service

Also, I found at least two painted this way.

Think about the little you know about me, where might I have friends.