My favorite commercial aircraft was the 727-200 Advanced with the wide body styled interiors and the Braniff "Flying Colors" livery.
Posted on 04/20/2006 6:54:45 PM PDT by Paleo Conservative
The final Boeing 717 was rolled out of the former Douglas Aircraft production site at Long Beach, California just before dawn today in preparation for the start of flight tests and delivery to AirTran Airways in May (pictured below).
The last aircraft officially marks the end of commercial aircraft manufacturing on the site and emerged from the now empty Building 80 assembly line that over the past 48 years has produced 976 DC-9s, 1,191 MD-80s and 115 MD-90s. A further 556 DC-8s, 446 DC-10/KC-10s and 200 MD-11s were also produced in the adjacent Building 84.
The final 717 is the 156th, and will be the 155th to be delivered, the first having been retained by Boeing. The 717 is also the last aircraft to be rolled over Lakewood Boulevard which divides the factory from the airfield and flight test site.
The older factory buildings on the airfield side of the road, mostly built in the 1940s as part of President Roosevelt's 'Arsenal of Defense' strategy, built C-47 Dakotas, A-20 Havocs, B-17 Flying Fortresses and A-26 Invaders as well as a host of post-Second World War cargo, attack and fighter aircraft.
Almost all of these buildings have now been demolished to make room for new commercial developments. The future of the Building 80 site, which sports the iconic "Fly DC Jets" neon sign (pictured below) remains uncertain.
It was renamed the 717 (originally the MD-95) after Boeing purchased McDonnell Douglas.
If they're serious about flying that many cycles, shouldn't they re-engine them? When they reach their cycle limit, they could transfer the engines to some second hand MD-80's.
Thank you
Boeing doesn't do that!
Also, Northwest no longer flies the MD-80. IIRC, they retired them shortly after Sept. 11th.
Most people are expecting Northwest (if they survive) to eventually replace their DC-9's with either Boeing's next narrow body aircraft (based on the 787) or with the Airbus A320NG which Airbus has been hinting at for a few years now.
Heard a great story today. It seems a bomber pilot flying a practice mission, pulled out a .38 and showed it to his new navigator. The navigator asked, "What's that for?" and the pilot responded, "Its for my navigator if he gets us lost."
The navigator then pulled out his .45 and proceeded to set his on the chart table. The pilot asked, "What's your .45 for?"
The navigator said, "With all due respect sir, I'll know we're lost before you do."
Yaaah! I'm in the majority. My daughter worked for an airline. She could probably identify most commercial airliners. Sadly, that knowledge didn't rub off on mom.
One thing that you need to understand......I am a TOTAL FAN of SWA. :-)
sing this pilot up!!!!
My favorite commercial aircraft was the 727-200 Advanced with the wide body styled interiors and the Braniff "Flying Colors" livery.
ping
Cool, at least I'm not the only weird one
I heard that pilots really liked them. I didn't because the wings looked tiny as if it would never get off the ground.
Welcome to this very exclusive club! LOL!
Whoa! Now what in the world is that?
AirTran was the first carrier I took that made me say that, as well.
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