Originally Posted by
md11pilot11
According to sources I’ve seen the Orbis pylons have been retrofitted. I know this sounds dumb but there is a McDonnell Douglas MD-11 Facebook group where people post all sorts of photos of the work being done.
There was a an existing retrofit (upgraded replacement part) that was authorized long before the accident. Parts were available, maybe the Orbis bird got those at some point?
They might have also got a ferry permit to move the plane for some reason.