Probably a leftover from the Northwest Airlines merger. Braniff used to have a bunch of DC-9’s in their fleet back in the day.
They’ve been called MD-80’s for a long time. It was really nice when Alaska retired the last one. I hated flying in the things.
So what happens to them?
Are scrapped or sold to 3rd world airlines?
Very nice quiet ride if you sat near the front. Back near the engines was another matter.
There are several big advantages in the "Blended Wing & Fuselage" design, the most important being the Lift to Drag ratio which is expected to increase by an amazing 50%, resulting in an overall weight reduction of the aircraft by 25%, making it an estimated 33% more fuel efficient than the A380, and thus making the Airbus's $13 Billion Dollar investment look pretty shaky.
“Have you ever seen Dallas from a DC-9 at night?”
A big tip of the hat to the maintenance crew who have kept these things in the air that long.
The article also says delta has retired their crj-200’s which isn’t exactly true. They have all been moved to delta connection. I flew on one last week.
The DC-9 was always a pilot favorite. The rear mounted engines make the wing very efficient. The Boeing 717 which is based on the DC-9 is very efficient and reliable, but it lacks commonality with other Boeings, making it uneconomical for most airlines.
Delta is taking over all of AirTran’s 717’s after AirTran was acquired by Southwest. That’s probably why Delta is retiring the DC-9.
When I was a kid in the early 60s my Father bought me a used pair of Nippon Kogaku binoculars for my birthday.
Our property was just East of the Southern Airlines flight path. I used to go to the top of the pasture and watch DC-3s headed to Atlanta from Ft. Walton Bch/Eglin. I don’t recall ever seeing jet passenger planes.
On the other hand, I got to see all kinds of military jets. We lived around 25 miles NE of Eglin main and were also in the area they flew very often.