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DC-9, MD-80, B717: What’s the difference?
A look at the history of the DC-9 family and what makes each type unique. (www.thirtythousand.us) Más...Sort type: [Top] [Newest]
The DC-9 family are some Beautiful planes. Never flown on the B717 but MD-80s (-82 and -88) and the DC-9-50 are very smooth rides. Have to admit DC-9-50 is my ALL TIME FAVE
I too love the DC9-50!!! My fave of the DC9 models...My second fave of the DC9s is the 10 series....
Love them. Noisy, smoky, and loud. That's what a jet is supposed to be about. Tree huggers need not apply.
Once you're on board, it's difficult to tell them apart. Although some 717's have IFE, the lack of TV screens anywhere is a clue. And the DC-9-50's are starting to show wear and tear, but that's mostly because Delta doesn't want to spend unnecessarily on an aircraft that is about to be retired. And they all share the 2-3 seating arrangement in coach that passengers have always preferred. Who wouldn't prefer an aircraft in which fewer than than 20% of all passengers are stuck in the dreaded middle seat? Of course, the airlines would much prefer the 3-3 arrangement that allows more passengers to be crammed onto the aircraft.
Being older and used mostly on short-to-medium-length flights, MD-80's don't have IFE and airlines haven't seen the need to add it. The explosion in personal entertainment devices really makes that a moot point as far as I'm concerned. We've flown AAL MD-80's on KDFW-KSEA and KDFW-KPDX roundtrip flights several times. Those flights are among the longest MD-80 flights, and they are great. My iPod provides plenty of entertainment for the 3-4 hour flights, and my wife loves the chance to read several chapters of her latest novel. And if you really need to use the Internet, most now offer inflight WiFi.
If you peek into the cockpit as you enter or leave, you'll see far more differences there. Although they've been updated somewhat, the DC-9 and MD-80 families were created in the analog 'steam gauge' era. Although they were long ago retrofitted with newer equipment to bring them into the digital age, you can still tell that they were created during a different electronics generation. The 717s' large multipurpose displays, however, tell you that they came into existence after the analog-to-digital revolution had taken place.
In my opinion, there isn't an airliner in existence that looks as good as an MD-80. Just sitting at the gate, it looks like it wants to fly. Luckily, Delta's decision to buy up AirTran's 717 fleet means the last edition of that very popular series is likely to remain active for many years. But it'll be a sad day when AAL and DAL retire their last MD-80's. I hope to have a ticket on one of those final flights.
Being older and used mostly on short-to-medium-length flights, MD-80's don't have IFE and airlines haven't seen the need to add it. The explosion in personal entertainment devices really makes that a moot point as far as I'm concerned. We've flown AAL MD-80's on KDFW-KSEA and KDFW-KPDX roundtrip flights several times. Those flights are among the longest MD-80 flights, and they are great. My iPod provides plenty of entertainment for the 3-4 hour flights, and my wife loves the chance to read several chapters of her latest novel. And if you really need to use the Internet, most now offer inflight WiFi.
If you peek into the cockpit as you enter or leave, you'll see far more differences there. Although they've been updated somewhat, the DC-9 and MD-80 families were created in the analog 'steam gauge' era. Although they were long ago retrofitted with newer equipment to bring them into the digital age, you can still tell that they were created during a different electronics generation. The 717s' large multipurpose displays, however, tell you that they came into existence after the analog-to-digital revolution had taken place.
In my opinion, there isn't an airliner in existence that looks as good as an MD-80. Just sitting at the gate, it looks like it wants to fly. Luckily, Delta's decision to buy up AirTran's 717 fleet means the last edition of that very popular series is likely to remain active for many years. But it'll be a sad day when AAL and DAL retire their last MD-80's. I hope to have a ticket on one of those final flights.
The Allegiants of the world will keep em flying long after DAL and AAL retires their older models.
Hopefully those 717 fly for awhile, delta only bought up the lease that remained for air tran, so they still may be retired in a couple years if delta or someone else doesn't purchase them