Page 24 - Volume 20 No. 6

22 • TWIN & TURBINE JUNE 2016
From the Flight Deck by Kevin R. Dingman Mad Dog Leaving The MD-80
enduring description of the darling that has been my home for almost 20,000 hours. Note the “has been.” The airplane is leaving our fleet this fall, ostensibly due to high operating costs – even with oil, and therefore jet fuel, being comparatively cheap these days. Management wants to tout a younger average fleet age and smaller overall carbon footprint (aka, cheaper to operate). Of course, our new generation of customers enjoy the new-car smell, the new- cabin gadgetry and the new-hire flight attendants of these new- generation airliners, despite the new lack of legroom. Sometimes newer isn’t nicer. Truthfully, the primary reason for retiring the Mad Dog is a looming and costly fuel tank AD, precipitated by the loss of TWA flight 800. The 747 fuel tank explosion in 1996 was caused by a spark at one of the submerged fuel pumps in a fuel cell. The MD-80 has a similar fuel system with pumps in fuselage-mounted tanks and is, therefore, like many AD’s, guilty by association. And it’s this association that management doesn’t want to be associated with. As the airplane is retired, and like the GPS and ADS-B updates for the Duke last year, the new-world is once again running me over as I’m forced into a new, next-gen airliner.
Arrogant Fighter Pilot
In 1990, the 737-200 systems were still old-style and the instrumentation was round-dial “steam gauges.” In order to apply
Introduction: 1965
Cruise speed: 504 mph
Wingspan: 108' 0"
Engine type: Pratt & Whitney JT8D
Thrust: 21,700 pounds Unit cost: $41,500,000 -
$48,000,000
Crew: Captain, First Of cer and three Flight Attendants
Manufacturers: McDonnell Doug- las, Boeing Commercial Airplanes
In the olden days, pilots all knew who Jimmy Doolittle, Hap Arnold, Pappy Boyington and Paul Mantz were. They all read Wind, Sand and Stars, as well as Fate Is The Hunter. They quoted The High and The Mighty, Flying Leathernecks and Twelve O’Clock High. Pilots drank coffee and whiskey, smoked cigars and didn’t wear digital watches. Pilots didn’t bend over for a strip search in front of the passengers at security. They didn’t go through the terminal pulling a suitcase, computer, guitar and food bag. And they hand-carried their suitcases and kitbags – no wheels. They wore jackets, hats, ties and kept their bright-white shirts pressed and tucked in. There was no pink string with granny glasses and ID dangling from their necks and they didn’t bump into passengers while talking on their cell phones. They nodded an acknowledgement of respect to other pilots that passed by. And these real pilots, well, they flew real airplanes too.
When Jets Roamed the Earth
In the day of the 707, 727 and DC-9, there was very little plastic or composites on the airplane. They were proportional and sexy. They had no vortex generators, ventral fins, winglets, flow diverters, tattoos
or nose rings. They were the last of the “real” airliners: ones that had flight controls connected to the yoke with something solid and made smoke and noise. Along with military fighters of the day, they gave birth to the moniker “the sound of freedom.” Airlines were run by men like C.R. Smith (American), Juan Trippe (PanAm) and Bob Six (Continental), who built their companies virtually from scratch, knew most of their employees by name and were lifetime airline employees themselves. Except when low on fuel, economy cruise was something buried in the performance book. And when the clacker went off, no one got nervous or scared, because Lockheed, Boeing and Douglas built their machines out of iron. Nothing was going to fall off these jets and the barber-pole sound caused the same result on pilots then as Viagra does now. After all, this was the jet age and the idea was to go fast – really fast.
The McDonnell Douglas DC-9 is a series of twin-engine, short to medium-range, single-aisle commercial jet airliners, lengthened and updated to become the MD-80 and acquiring the marketing name of Super-80 (S-80) and the nickname Mad Dog. It’s an accurate and