The DC-10's legacy is really one of bad timing more than anything. Its direct competitor, the L-1011 suffered a very short production run for many of the same reasons, none of which involved safety.

The 1980s ushered in a new era of twin engined widebody aircraft and the phasing out of the flight engineer. These two trijets were consequently a difficult sell, although the MD-11 was competitive with the 747 briefly in the early to mid 90s.