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WAAAAAAH!!!!! On This JetBlue Flight, Passengers Cheered Crying Babies

Wendell Barnhouse
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WAAAAAAH!!!!! On This JetBlue Flight, Passengers Cheered Crying Babies

 Baby

Wailing babies on a long flight are enough to make grown-ups cry but this JetBlue promotion turned tears into tickets.

Anyone who flies commercially understands that it’s best to expect the unexpected. Weather delays, mechanical issues, flight crews arriving late because their flight was late are among the curve balls that can make for a miserable travel experience.

And if you’re a parent who is traveling with young children – babies especially – you brace for the challenges of making sure the young ones don’t scream/cry for a three-hour trip. If your child decides being at 35,000 feet is going to make his/her inner ears hurt, you’re in for the longest flight of your life.

Credit JetBlue with another great promotion (this one from a few months ago was chronicled on Avgeekery.com). On April 15, the airline offered a “FlyBabies” promotion on a flight from New York City’s JFK to Long Beach, Calif.

Flight attendants announced that on that flight “crying babies” would be a good thing. For each crying baby, JetBlue would offer all the passengers on the flight a 25 percent discount. Four criers equaled a free flight for each passenger.

After the first wail, the passengers started cheering and clapping each time a baby started to cry. By the time the plane landed after the seven-hour flight, all 140 passengers had earned a free roundtrip ticket on JetBlue.

“We weren’t necessarily sure what to expect from folks on board, it was interesting to watch,” JetBlue spokesperson Morgan Johnston said. “We started seeing people really want to entertain the kids and make it a comfortable environment on board.

“We’ve had this ongoing mission to inspire some humanity, and we thought this was something we could weigh in on.”

http://money.cnn.com/2016/05/03/pf/jetblue-free-flight-flybabies/

The airline and its advertising agency has turned the video from the flight into a Mother’s Day commercial that it hopes brings awareness to the stress parents feel when they’re traveling with toddlers.

“People smile at babies everywhere, except on planes,” said Elizabeth Windram, JetBlue’s director brand management and advertising (and a mother of a toddler). “For Mother’s Day, we wanted to acknowledge how moms (indeed all parents and caregivers) often feel stressed while traveling with children.”

Two thumbs up for JetBlue for the clever promotion of their airline and for making people aware that cute babies cry sometimes when stuck on a seven-hour flight.

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This Massive C-17 Doesn’t Mind Getting Dirty To Deliver A Payload

Wendell Barnhouse
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This Massive C-17 Doesn’t Mind Getting Dirty To Deliver A Payload

Rugged and versatile, the C-17 Globemaster doesn’t need a paved runway to make deliveries.

The C-17 Globemaster can be considered a master of its domain. The four-engine transport is the perfect component for the modern U.S. military and its ability to rapidly deploy troops and equipment anywhere in the world.

The Globemaster can also be described as the four-wheel off-road vehicle of the U.S. air fleet. It’s rugged enough that it doesn’t need a paved runway. The C-17 doesn’t mind getting dirty.

C-17Globe

This video is a prime example of the C-17 delivering cargo to an area that is near the front lines. A hard-packed dirt runway is sufficient for both landing and takeoff.

The C-17 has the cargo space to deliver a 69-ton M-1 Abrams battle tank. But on this mission, the cargo is a Boeing AH-64 Apache attack helicopter. The Globemaster’s cargo bay can be converted to handle either pallet cargo or rolling stock like the Apache.

The AH-64 is versatile in that there’s some assembly required after delivery. Being able to stow and transporter a helicopter requires attaching the four blades after landing. The ground crew also must work as a team to de-plane the copter as even with the large accommodation of the C-17’s interior, it’s a tight fit.

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Flashback Friday: Get To Know The Rocket Girls

Wendell Barnhouse
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Flashback Friday: Get To Know The Rocket Girls

RocketGirls

In the early days of that helped launch our space program, “Rocket Girls” served as human computers.

If you’re searching for a last-minute Mother’s Day gift (if so, shame on you) and the lady in your life likes to read about trail blazing women, there’s a great book available.

Rise of the Rocket Girls: The Women Who Propelled Us, from Missiles to the Moon to Mars tells the story that few people know about. While the machines that have helped the United States lead the way in exploration are called “man-made” there was a group of women who in the early days were human computers.

During World War II, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., was ground zero for research into the rocket power that would eventually help the American space program break the bonds of earth. What eventually became NASA was staffed by a number of women whose “beautiful minds” could crunch numbers. In those days, making calculations of speed, direction and power had to be done by hand.

In the words of Macie Roberts, one of the women working the problems with bulky calculators, pencils and graph paper, the criteria was: “look like a girl, act like a lady, think like a man and work like a dog.”

Author Nathalia Holt spent hours trying to track down the women who worked at JPL in the early days. While Holt says that “something magical happened there” it wasn’t without familiar challenges.

“There (are stories of) sexual harassment in the book—aeronautical engineering is a very male-dominated field, even today— but this was a strong group of women with a woman supervisor,” Holt said. “I think they did a remarkable job looking out for each other. And the men at the lab came to accept them as colleagues. Some male engineers even brought them onto studies and included them as co-authors on publications. At the time that was not common at all, and it really changed their career options.

“Most of the women I talked to felt very strongly about the role of mentoring the next generation.”

Even when the computers became more sophisticated to help with the calculations, women continued to have a tremendous behind-the-scenes impact on the space program. This book helps shed some light on their contributions.

“In a time before the digital devices that we’re used to today, it was humans that were doing the calculations,” Holt said. “And so you needed these teams of people — many of whom were women, especially during World War II — and they were responsible for the math.

“There is hardly a mission that you can find in NASA that these women haven’t touched.”

 

The Spirit Of John Muir: A 747 Converted Into The World’s Largest Fire Fighting Aircraft

Wendell Barnhouse
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The Spirit Of John Muir: A 747 Converted Into The World’s Largest Fire Fighting Aircraft

Photo credit: Bill Gabbert, Fire Aviation
Photo credit: Bill Gabbert, Fire Aviation

It’s a bird … it’s a plane … no, it’s Super Tanker, a 747 converted to the world’s largest fire-fighting aircraft.

With most 747s being retired as commercial airliners, the history-making four-engine jet still has several valuables uses. A few months ago, Avgeekery.com wrote about seven ways that the 747 is being re-purposed. One of those involved its possible use to fight forest fires.

Here’s what we wrote then:

Evergreen International Aviation, a company based in Oregon, converted four 747 cargo planes into aircraft that could deliver nearly 20,000 gallons of water and/or fire retardant chemicals. The company hoped to use its big plans to drop big loads to help fight fires.

Alas, the business model never worked out as government agencies preferred to continue using smaller planes. Evergreen filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Last year, Global SuperTanker Services, LLC stepped in and took over Evergreen’s planes and plans. The use and effectiveness of 747 super tankers has yet to be determined.

That determination has now happened.

The Spirit of John Muir will officially make its debut Thursday at its home base in Colorado Springs, Colo. (John Muir, also known as “John of the Moutains,” was a Scottish-American naturalist who in the second half of the 19th century was an advocate for preserving the United States’ wilderness.)

Global SuperTanker Services, LLC converted the B747-400 freighter into the world’s newest Very Large Air Tanker (VLAT). It has almost twice the capacity of the next biggest aerial tanker. It can carry 20,000 gallons of water or fire retardant which can be released in single or multiple drops at variable rates. That allows the plane to deliver its payload in a tailored response to the firefighting needs.

Last year more than 10 million acres burned in the worst wildfire season in American history. The fire season is about to start again and there are warnings that 2016 could be worse.

The John Muir will stand at the ready and from its base in Colorado Springs will be able to quickly reach fires in the western United States.

“The Spirit of John Muir differs from other firefighting planes not just because it is capable of variable rate drops,” said Jim Wheeler, President and CEO of Global SuperTanker, “as the world’s largest aerial firefighting asset, the John Muir can fly 600 miles per hour for long ranges at efficient altitudes, reaching and combatting any fire in the Western U.S. in less than three hours.”

Wheeler points out that destructive wildfires are becoming a global problem. The John Muir can fly anywhere in the world in under 20 hours.

Want to watch the video?  Input password: GlobalSuperTanker

https://vimeo.com/165346505

Watch WestJet Buzz the Tower Before Retiring Their 737-200 Fleet

Avgeekery
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Watch WestJet Buzz the Tower Before Retiring Their 737-200 Fleet

What’s it like to fly a low pass in the old Boeing 737-200?  This WestJet pilot shares his exhilarating story.

Back in 2006, WestJet was a much smaller airline that was in a full-fledged transition process to the airline it has become today.  While most major North American Airlines had retired their 737-200 in the first half of last decade, they held on to them a little longer while they waited for 737-600 and 737-700s to arrive.

When the time finally came to retire the -200 fleet, WestJet authorized a crew to do a final flyby for a photo opportunity.  After coordination with tower, they did two flybys followed by an impressive unrestricted climb before entering a pattern for a final approach.

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Super Constellation Spits Fire On Takeoff

Wendell Barnhouse
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You’ll get fired up watching this Super Constellation’s exhaust flames as it takes off at twilight.

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Flames on an airplane are usually the signal of impending doom. The combustion needs to remain internal and contained to the engines. But Lockheed’s Super Constellation, the L-1049, was a four-engine aircraft that became a major component in commercial aviation fleets in the 1950s.

Before jet-powered aircraft like the Boeing 707 took over, the Super Constellation was a go-to aircraft. In particular, it became a signature plane for Trans World Airlines.

[youtube id=”UV7-73LmOm0″ width=”800″ height=”454″ position=”left”]

The “Super Connie” is considered of the most elegant aircraft ever built. From it’s sloping dolphin-like nose to its distinctive triple tail, the plane looked sleek and unique.

The accompanying video was taken at the perfect time. The dusk takeoff of this Super Connie shows the four flames being emitted from the four engines.

Why Does The Connie Spit So Much Fire?

Based on this video, you could nickname the Connie, the Spitfire! (We’re kidding, of course)

The L-1049 went through numerous changes and adjustments but for the most part the aircraft’s four 18-cylinder radial engines remained the same – versions of the Wright R series.

Most of the Super Connies were powered by R-3350-972-TC18DA-1 turbo-compound engines that featured Recovery Turbines that had each engine’s exhaust gas flow through three turbines. That boosted horsepower by 550. The drawback was the visible flame from the exhaust pipes.

To prevent the flames from causing catastrophes, two-inch armor plating was placed under the stack. Problem solved. But the flames remained and that added to the spectacle of seeing a Super Constellation in flight.

Bombs Away! Skydivers Jump From A Perfectly Good B-17

Wendell Barnhouse
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Bombs Away! Skydivers Jump From A Perfectly Good B-17

b17bomberskydive

Members of a Chicago skydiving club experienced a unique thrill by exiting through the bomb bay of a B-17 Flying Fortress.

The B-17 Flying Fortress was one of the crucial components to the Allies’ victory in World War II. The B-17 was rugged enough to survive punishment as the flight groups flew bombing missions over Europe.

In the early days of daylight bombing, the Fortresses flew over Germany without fighter escorts and had to survive the onslaught of flack and enemy fighters on the inbound and outbound portions of the missions.

Groups like the Collings Foundation Wings of Freedom have restored WWII-era aircraft. In this video, a B-17 was used to provide members of the Chicagoland Skydiving Center a unique parachute experience.

This “bombing run” allowed the sky divers to exit the B-17 through the bomb bay. Plus, the parachutists were able to experience what it was like for the airmen who flew the Flying Fortress. We would call that a double dip.

By the way, the background song for this video is “Blood Upon The Risers,” a marching song used by American paratroopers during training. Based on the song “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” the refrain is “Gory, Gory, What A Helluva Way To Die.”

We assume the song was added in post-production for this video. These aren’t the sort of lyrics a sky diver wants to hear as he hurtles himself out of a perfectly good airplane. (But if somehow this song WAS played on the B-17 mission, it’s highly doubtful anyone would have heard it over the roar of the four engines.

And by the way, part two: The second half of the video features the song “We’ll Meet Again.” It was one of the favorite songs of WWII because of its optimistic message.

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The ‘G’ Stands For Glider Pilot… And For Guts

Jeff Gilmore
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The ‘G’ Stands For Glider Pilot… And For Guts

Glider pilots are unknown heroes of World War II.  Their bravery is captured in the documentary “Silent Wings”.

Back in the summer of 2000, I was a brand new sophomore (or three degree) at the Air Force Academy.  As a cadet, you get a three week summer break followed by 6 weeks of air force training before you go back to school. I had just completed a miserable three week period of survival training in the woods.  I looked forward to my final air force training class for the summer–flying gliders.

gliderjeff
I’m in the back of the mighty TG-4, smiling after having just completed my instructor upgrade check ride.

Just three summers earlier, I was working at K-Mart–earning $4.75 an hour to pay for flying.  Working there wasn’t much fun. I’m pretty sure I’d rather do survival training repeatedly–even without food–versus getting yelled at by a high school-educated manager to clean out a filthy restroom as the Eagles song “Take it Easy” blared over the K-Mart Radio Network speakers for the 100th time.  That job paid for my flight lessons though and helped me get into the Air Force Academy.

I didn’t mind the 4:40am wakeup to board the bus to the airfield by 5:00am.  For the first time in my life, I was finally getting paid to fly.  In my mind, I had arrived.  I learned the basics of unpowered flight that summer and quickly soloed the mighty TG-4.  During my sophomore year, I would learn how to instruct in the TG-4 (Schweizer SGS 2-33) and earned my glider wings.

C 47As of 88th TCS tow gliders over Normandy in June 1944
Troop carrier Douglas C-47s tow Waco CG-4A gliders during the invasion of France in June 1944. (U.S. Air Force photo)

It was after I earned my wings that I began to realize the gravity of the long-storied history of “G”-wings.  Our speaker that day at the dining out was Lt Col Floyd Sweet (his obituary can be read here) who spoke with eloquence as he recalled his time training hundreds of combat glider pilots during World War II.

gliderwings

I realized at that dining out that I was wearing the same wings as heroes like LtCol Sweet and his trainees wore.  Sixty years earlier, men with more guts in their pinky finger than my entire body on my best day flew unpowered airplanes over Nazi-controlled territory with amazing bravery.  They guided a canvas plane that was difficult to fly, with no armor, and tried their best to land it in enemy territory on a field that was often defended with telephone poles that could rip a glider in half.  My wings meant that as one of the few glider pilots in the Air Force, I was now part of that same legacy.  Sure their wartime mission was a far cry from our ‘mission’ of training young cadets over the relatively safe skies of Colorado Springs.  But we took immense pride as being part of that long blue line of glider pilots.

Waco CG 4A USAF
DAYTON, Ohio – Waco CG-4A at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force (U.S. Air Force photo)

After I graduated from USAFA, I went on to fly Learjets and then C-17s. I still had a special place in my heart for the WWII glider pilots. From time to time, I would spend a Saturday afternoon searching the web for an interesting story or book about them. I recently came across a documentary online that shares glider pilots’ stories of heroism better than I ever could.

“Silent Wings” documentary tells the often ignored story of the role gliders and their pilots played during World War II.

Even if you consider yourself an expert and well-versed on World War II, this documentary is worth your time.

waco glider

“Silent Wings: The American Glider Pilots of World War II” tells the story of the brave men who piloted gliders. The Waco CG-4A combat glider was constructed of wood, metal and a canvas covering. It had a pilot and a co-pilot and could carry 13 troops or could also carry a Jeep, a 75 mm howitzer or a ¼-ton trailer.

Approximately 5,000 pilots were in the glider program, which saw action in Sicily, Burma, Normandy (D-Day), Southern France, Holland (Operation Market Garden) and Bastogne (Battle of the Bulge) and Germany.

On D-Day, gliders played a key role and many of the Waco gliders lived up to their nickname – the Flying Coffin. But those who were able to successfully land were able to bring troops and equipment behind enemy lines to support the invasion of the Normandy beaches. Gutsy glider pilots are part of the reason that we are free today.

This documentary is narrated by Hal Holbrook and two great CBS newsmen are interviewed.

As Andy Rooney explained, “Gliders were a completely expendable piece of equipment … landing was a planned accident and you hoped you survived the accident.”  And Walter Cronkite described the deafening noise of riding inside a glider because of the canvas covering. “It was like being inside a drum at a Grateful Dead concert.”

We owe much to these brave men.  Without much fanfare, they did their job and kept America free through their strength and sheer guts.

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Pilot Report: Flying the Short, Stubby, Beautiful 737-200

Rob Graves
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Pilot Report: Flying the Short, Stubby, Beautiful 737-200

Avgeekery guest blogger Robert Graves writes another excellent post on his experiences flying the small but mighty Boeing 737-200.

The Boeing Model 737 is considered one of the most successful airliners ever built. Boeing has built nearly 9000 of these aircraft since its introduction in 1968 with thousands of more orders on the books. Currently Boeing’s only narrow body aircraft in production, the 737 has been produced in seven variants over the years, the -100 through -700, including the 737-200. The next iteration, the Max-8, is currently undergoing flight testing and is scheduled for delivery to launch customer Southwest Airlines next year.

427al Aloha Airlines Boeing 737 200 N823AL@ITO03.10.2006 4708855811 AIa
image via aero icarus

I flew the 737-200 in both the left and right seat from the time I was hired until my airline retired the aircraft from the fleet in the early 2000s. I have many thousands of hours of time in this aircraft and really enjoyed flying her. The 737-200 was a pilot’s airplane, meaning that she was responsive and easy to fly. It was easy to put the airplane where you wanted her and once you learned the tricks to make a smooth landing such as the “roll-on”, she was a real cream puff.

11cr Delta Express Boeing 737 232 N317DL@FLL30.01.1998 5066141079 Aero Icarusa
image via aero icarus

The 200 had her drawbacks as well. Being underpowered was one of the greatest frustrations. When Boeing introduced this aircraft as the -100 model, it came equipped with Pratt and Whitney JT8D-7 engines producing about 14,000 lbs of thrust. This aircraft was so underpowered that it was not even allowed to use full flaps to land as there was too much drag. The 100 model was quickly replaced by the 737-200 model, which offered the upgraded JT8D-9 engines producing 15,500 lbs of thrust. I only flew the aircraft with the -9 engines. Still, she was kind of a pig.

95583204 3252064988139691 8760653692270542848 o Nick Young
image via nick young

Don’t Shut Off the APU!

Taking off of short runways was always kind of exciting. One procedure with which all 737-200 pilots had to become intimately familiar was the “bleeds off” takeoff. During normal operations, hot, compressed or “bleed” air is drawn out of the engine to run the air conditioning and to provide pressurization. When taking off from a short runway on a hot day, drawing that bleed air means that it isn’t available to produce thrust. So one method to increase thrust from the engines was to turn the bleeds off and to use air from the auxiliary power unit (APU) for air conditioning until getting airborne.

35526762 10204909751941577 1328977934966325248 o Jens Polster
image via Jens Polster

Without the extra thrust from the bleed air being available, there often wasn’t enough thrust for a safe takeoff. It was during taxi-out and after takeoff that problems arose. There are six switches controlling the bleed air plumbing on a 737 and they must be positioned correctly. One particular mistake could cause damage if both the engine and APU bleed valves were open at the same time as the engine would overpower the APU. Otherwise, one of the more common mistakes was to forget that the APU was needed and to accidentally shut it off. This usually happened right after being cleared for takeoff meaning an embarrassing call to the tower that you had to delay to start it up again.

36609433 10204976871259518 4396153701836783616 o Jens Polster
image via jens polster

Once airborne, forgetting to reconfigure the bleeds back to normal could be a big problem. If you climbed high enough like this, you might get the altitude warning horn as the cabin wouldn’t pressurize. Go higher still and you’d get the “rubber jungle” as the masks fell. Besides causing a severe panic in the back, it was a guaranteed trip to see the chief pilot followed by an unpaid vacation as you’d probably get some time off.

American Airlines Boeing 737 293 N463GB@SFO July 1988 BFO 6350276891 Aero Icarusa
image via aero icarus

Other aspects of the low thrust of the aircraft meant that turning on the engine anti-ice would slow your climb rate and turning on the wing anti-ice meant almost no climb capability as it used quite a bit of bleed air. That said, the cooling capability was always great on the 200. It wasn’t until the introduction of the -300 that Boeing changed the air conditioning to include a “low flow” setting which made that airplane hot in the summer.

Continental Airlines B737 200 N7381F Philip Capper
image via philip capper

For More -200 Pilot Talk Bang NEXT PAGE Below

Flashback Friday: Reviewing The Stories And Videos Of The Past Week

Wendell Barnhouse
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Flashback Friday: Reviewing The Stories And Videos Of The Past Week

Antonov_AN-225_UR-82060_(9144582918)Flashback Friday: Our one-stop, one-click recap of the past week on Avgeekery.com.

If your week blurred by so fast you couldn’t spend time at Avgeekery.com (we forgive you) here’s a quick way to catch up. We’ve compiled all of our stories and videos from the past week. They’re all just a click away. Enjoy.

One of a kind: The Antonov An-225 is the world’s largest aircraft.

The FAA is requiring repairs to some models of engines on the Boeing 787s.

An analysis of Southwest Airlines as it continues to negotiate with its pilots in the midst of phasing out its 737-300 models.

Russian pilots like to get buzzed … and we’re not talking about downing shots of vodka.

The A-10 Warthog was basically designed as a flying platform for one of the most bad-ass guns in the U.S. military.

Those who help maintain the C-5 Galaxy have nicknamed the huge transport FRED. Click and read to find out why.

It’s indeed a liberating experience to watch and listen to a B-24 Liberator fire up its four radial engines.

Giving credit where credit is due – the Russians developed an effective VTOL aircraft – the Yak-141 –  but its development was thwarted by the breakup of the Soviet Union.

American Airlines continues to phase out of the MD-80, the aircraft which was the company’s workhorse in the 1980s.

A great idea that we hope survives and thrives: JetSuiteX offers the sweet promise of private jet services for the price of commercial flying.

JetSuiteX Offers The Sweet Promise Of Private Jet Service At Prices Most People Can Afford. Will it Last?

Wendell Barnhouse
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JetSuiteX Offers The Sweet Promise Of Private Jet Service At Prices Most People Can Afford. Will it Last?

JetSuite

A private jet service experience for the cost of a domestic airline ticket? Here’s our credit card, sign us up.

If you’ve ever had the good fortune to be able to fly on private jet, you understand the feeling of freedom and convenience. And if you do or have flown privately, you’re either rich or have rich friends. Flying privately means either owning a business jet, leasing one or chartering one and those options require stacks and stacks of Benjamins.

Earlier this month, a company launched a limited start-up service that offers its customers the chance to experience private jet travel.

JetSuite calls its service JetSuiteX and describes it as “making luxury travel more affordable.” It’s also described as a “private for public service.” You can check out the company’s web site here.

It currently offers regular, daily flights between Concord and Burbank in California. Expanding to weekend service to Las Vegas is expected soon and on June 30 will start flying to Bozeman, Mont.

How much, you ask, before reaching for your plastic? How about $109 for a one-way ticket on a 30-seat Embraer 135 jet?

“It’s a private jet-style experience for the price of an airline seat,” JetSuite CEO Alex Wilcox told Condé Nast Traveler. “We looked at some short-haul markets in California where people fly a lot, and we found that while nationwide, traffic is up, there are fewer people flying those (smaller) markets every year.”

With mergers and consolidation at the top of the airline industry, there are some cheap-fare alternatives but those “bare fare” carriers ask passengers to give up convenience and creature comforts to save money. Plus, those low-fare carriers still have the hassles of air travel that frequent fliers are all too familiar worth.

Even though it’s barely a blip on the radar right now, here are some reasons why JetSuite’s plan is appealing:

  • Smaller airports. That equates to convenience. For those around the San Francisco area, flying out of Concord’s Buchanan Field Airport means avoiding the traffic hassle of driving to the major airports in San Francisco or Oakland.
  • Time saving. The hassles of baggage check, parking and TSA screening are reduced to the point of being eliminated. JetSuite says that their screening process is a “pre-approved Transportation Security Administration (TSA) protection process.” JetSuite says that the check-in time between arrival and boarding the plane could be about 15 minutes.
  • Comfort. The seats on the JetSuiteX flights have a pitch of 36 inches so it’s similar to what commercial flights offer in business class. There’s also free Wi-Fi. Yes, free.

Further expansion of service is planned in 2017 as the company receives deliveries of the 10 Embraer 135s it has on order. JetSuiteX has targeted San Diego, Phoenix and Santa Barbara, Calif., as possible destinations.

“There are a lot of markets that can support 30 seats that can’t support 160 (that are typical on bigger jets like a Boeing 737). We’re going to be creative in finding those,” Wilcox said. “We’ve only got 30 seats to fill. And we only have to sell 20 of them to (break even).”

Still though, Avgeekery remains skeptical that this plan will succeed.  Remember ExpressJet and Independence Air?  Both airlines failed miserably at trying to be a standalone regional jet carrier.  The cost structure is unfavorable. However, the industry is enjoying low oil prices and a decent economy.  Will they survive? Time will tell.

 

Disappearing Act: American Airlines Continues to Phase Out its “Super 80s”

Wendell Barnhouse
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Disappearing Act: American Airlines Continues to Phase Out its “Super 80s”

 

MD80

Once the workhorse for American Airlines, the MD80 is in the process of being sent to the glue factory – aka the boneyard.

Much like the 747, which is slowly being phased out of passenger service, the MD-80 is suffering the same fate. Most are headed to the boneyard.

American Airlines made the MD-80 the workhorse of its fleet, with approximately 370 in service at its peak. Manufactured by McDonnell Douglas, the MD-80 made its debut in 1980. At the time, it was popular for use on short and medium routes.

But in less than two more years, American will have removed all of its MD-80s from service.

American placed its first order for MD-80s in 1982. Here’s how the company explained the order in its annual report for 1983: “The operating efficiency of the Super 80 stems from its twin-engine, twin-seat cockpit design. On American’s system, it performs the same missions as a 727 aircraft, which has three engines and requires three cockpit crew members. The Super 80 therefore conserves fuel while enhancing pilot productivity. On a route of 750 miles, the Super 80’s fuel cost per seat mile is 37 percent less than that of a 727-100, while its cockpit crew cost per seat mile is 42 percent less.”

Pilots who have spent a lot of time flying the MD-80 know that the aircraft has one of the best safety records, it’s easy to fly and it’s a hybrid of old-time flying and modern avionics. In particular, the cockpit of an MD-80 has a lot of quirks that helps make the piloting experience unique, including a very unique compass placement.

That workhorse is now too old and eats too much. American Arilines chief executive Doug Parker sums up the reason the airline is phasing out the “Super 80” back in a Dallas Morning News interview in 2014.

“They’ve become obsolete, really,” he said. “There are new aircraft coming in that are more fuel-efficient, and the cost of fuel is so much higher than when those airplanes were purchased. “The economics are much better to bring in a new airplane because you save enough in fuel.”

American has ordered new planes such as the Boeing 737-800 (and MAX) and the AirbusA320 series that will replace its MD-80s. The new planes can carry more passengers and do so more efficiently thanks to fuel efficient engines.

Nearly 2,000 MD-80s were produced, with Boeing taking over from McDonnell Douglas in 1997. A few years after that takeover of production, Boeing halted production of MD-80s to concentrate on the 737 as its short/medium-range aircraft.

In its heyday, the MD-80 played a key role in the growth of American Airlines.

“It was a seminal moment for us back in the 1980s when that deal was made, before I even started with American,” American Airlines chairman Tom Horton said. “It was our last major fleet renewal, and it was the cornerstone of the growth plan under (former American CEO) Bob Crandall at the time.”

Today, American has fewer than 95 in the fleet with a majority of those to be retired this year.

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