In my earlier post on Swissair, I'd made a reference to the MD-80. The MD-80 was introduced into commercial service on October 10, 1980 by Swissair. It was the second generation of the DC-9, originally called the DC-9-80 (also to be later known as "Super 80" or, affectionately called "Mad Dog"). When first introduced, the MD-80 was one of the most fuel efficient commercial airplanes in the sky. The DC-9/MD-80 Series has served as the "workhorse" of numerous world-wide operators' airline fleet for more than 40 years, before being (lately) replaced by more efficient versions of other twinjets. This post illustrates the Super 80 in a "hybrid" (TWA-AA) American Airlines livery. In 2001, Trans World Airlines (TWA) was acquired by American Airlines, and TWA Airlines had flown its last flight on December 1, 2001, also with an MD-80 aircraft. During the transition, some aircraft carried a hybrid American/TWA paint, with American's tricolor stripe on the fuselage and TWA titles on the tail and forward fuselage (same as the livery of this post). American Airlines, on September 4, this year (2019), retired the last of its MD-80 aircraft. American’s final MD-80 revenue flight, American Flight 80 (note the Flight Number!), flew for the last time from Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) to Chicago O'Hare (ORD) (before the farewell (desert) ferry flight to Roswell, New Mexico (ROW)).

The retirement of the MD-80, in a way, symbolizes the end of a nostalgic era of "modern" aviation....reminding us of the older crop of "mechanical" planes that didn’t rely on advanced computers – a plane pilots had to really fly...!

Now, a bit about this SIM here: Even though I do not recall flying this Flight1/Coolsky Super-80 in many years, the legacy SIM still flew very well today (and the flight was enjoyable!)...this SIM was a trend-setter of a type for the study-sims in our hobby  - with a novel and intuitive learning interface (see a screenshot of the user interface)...(I'm flying, here, the "Classic" not the "Professional" version of the SIM). The classic verion has an interesting ("old-fashioned" - OMEGA NAVIGATION SYSTEM (ONS)) Control Display Unit (CDU) complemented by a (separate) Control Unit (CU) - both operable from the Virtual Cockpit (please see shots - the GPS, btw, is just a custom popup for my situational own awareness). The CDU allows automatic transfer of a previously generated (and saved) Flightplan into its database once the DEPT/DEST data is entered into the (separate) Control Unit, and also allows (neat) Flightplan activation directly via the ONS/CDU's softkeys.

And, in the Forum, here, I do recall seeing many (enjoyable) MD-80 posts, of course, flown with newer SIM renditions...still, I hope, you will enjoy one more set of pictures of this classic aircraft (SIM) especially in this unique "hybrid" livery. Regarding scenery, I've taken the opportunity of combining/testing, here, my last (acquired) MSE add-on (Spain South), which I've not used much at all. So, this sample flight runs from Alicante (LEAL) to Malaga (LEMG) along the beautiful Mediterranean Sea coastline of Southern Spain....mostly skirting (and sometimes overflying) the Sierra Nevada mountain range (see some of the screenshots). BTW, the Sierra Nevada mountain range contains the highest point of the entire continental Spain and the third highest in Europe: Mt. Mulhacén, at 11,414 ft above sea level. Thanks for reading and viewing. Any comments are welcome. [F1(Super-80)/MSE(Spain-South)/REX]

(On the subject of "Mad Dog")...

Hi All:

While Mark(HighBypass) is inquiring about this term, I recalled that I'd posted an entry on it (along with a bit of notes) just a little while ago...(getting mixed up in my recent posts a bit)...

So, if you'd missed it, here it is, if you wish to take a look. In my Lockheed Tristar post, I had shown a "fictitious" American color (AA seems to have never owned any L-1011, but they had operated many MD-11s!), but, the AA livery, shown here, is a "genuine" American (+ TWA) color...Enjoy...

Good week all! Back on Friday...

***Beautiful Shots*** I remember how incredibly Loud they were for a mid size Jet.

NICE! The MD is none too shabby in the graphics department, both inside and out. 

Nice shots! I love Maddog series...

 

Many thanks for the kind comments, folks!

I too am very fond of the MD-8x series!

Edited November 17, 20196 yr by P_7878