I have had a few flights on the MD-80s and MD-90s.
When I was traveling (consulting) - traveling every week
I was on a lot of MD-82, MD-84 aircraft. A lot of them.
A ping to Evening Star - gone now - didn’t always agree with him politically but he kept up with aviation (the ping won’t do anything of course, but to inform some of you out there)
Sad. MD-95 was the Hot-Rod w/ the V2500’s on the arse end. They came to show it off w/ the “experimental” sticker still on it, when I worked for a certain aerospace firm and they let us tour it. I think I flew on one once..
i flew on these jets often on American Airlines (as a passenger)...how i hated them
I remember my flight with Grace L. Ferguson Airline (And Storm Door Co.) on a DC~4. I got a student discount and used my own piece of rope to tie me to my seat. They retired the plane here at work it was only 49 years old. 747-100s were a cool plane too.
Them babies still have rope starts? ;)
I worked on the original DC-9’s final assembly at Hangar #84 Long Beach, Calif. in 1966. When I came back from the Army in ‘68 the company had merged the year before with McDonnell. It sucked. Left that job, and went to work for Knott’s Berry Farm. Knott’s was a great place to work.
I started flying regularly in the mid-80s, when the MD-80s were replacing 727s and DC-9s (MD-11s were then replacing DC-10s).
The MD-80 seemed light years more powerful than the prior aircraft, although I learned never to sit in the back by the engines. 727s had a long, low rise, and the MD-80s rose much more quickly. (I mostly flew AA, which didn’t have 737s back then so can’t speak for that aircraft.)
Then the next generation came along, 757s, 767s and, wow, seemed as if we took off straight into the sky.
Interesting evolution in all this, as the planes were designed around so many externalities, such as ground noise, fuel consumption/range, 2 v. 3+ engines for overseas flight (that was a huge concern back in the day), and, of course, passenger volumes. It was also before hyper-security measures, which actually appeared prior to Sept 11, but, of course, was crazy thereafter. In the mid-80s-90s, I could literally show up for a flight 10 minutes before departure. I once even knocked on a closed door to let me in.
Oh well... bloody muzzies.