MD-11
Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP); Flight Crew Instrument
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical; Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Other / Unknown
Flight Crew Landed in Emergency Condition; Flight Crew Returned To Departure Airport
Aircraft
On climb out; received #3 HYD ELEV OFF. Complied with the level one alert procedures. We had the HYD page pulled up and saw that the number 3 hydraulic system was losing fluid rapidly. It initially stopped at 2;5 and then continued leaking. Our next alerts were #3 HYD OFF followed by #3 HYD FAIL. The final amount in the reservoir was .4. We complied with the HYD 3 FAIL checklist and I switched autopilot to the #2 autopilot. We coordinated with [Operations] and ATC (Air Traffic Control) to set up dump to get to an acceptable LGW (Landing Gross Weight). We did a present position hold in accordance with ATC instructions at FL260 and dumped 75K lbs of fuel to a gross weight of 450K lbs. We secured the dump and requested priority handling and were vectored back to ZZZ and had an uneventful landing. We exited off the runway at Taxiway XX and shutdown the airplane. Maintenance towed us to gate for a transload to gate. We discussed several different landing scenarios enroute (i.e. the potential issue of brake failure; and potential slat issues). Fortunately; everything worked as advertised and we didn't have to use the options we had discussed. Failure of the #3 HYD System. Ultimately I believe it was an issue in the stab trim.
[Report narrative contained no additional information.]
MD-11 flight crew encountered a Hydraulic System failure during climb that resulted in a return to the departure airport.