In my previous post I'd illustrated the (Douglas) DC-9-20, with an objective to explore the two a/c manufacturers of my Title,...both companies legendary, but now left with no trace of theirs to be found in the (commercial) passenger (air) transports of today...dominated by A- and B-...if, however, history were just a bit kinder to DC/MD, there could be, now, at least a type of (big) DC (or MD) "twin" long-hauler jets roaming the skies today...indeed it was close...(see below)...

Douglas (maker of many iconic a/c, and a company that had introduced more successful designs that fought wars than any other manufacturer) became McDonnell Douglas in 1967, and 30 years later, in 1997, McDonnell Douglas merged with Boeing. Thereby, though "McDonnell Douglas" name would disappear..., Boeing, as a mark of respect to the heritage of McDonnell Douglas, introduced a new corporate identity based on the McDonnell Douglas logo. Historically, the Boeing logo, since inception, was predominantly dominated by the (typeface) letters "BOEING" (or "Boeing"), however, from 1997 to present, the logo is actually a slightly modified version of the McDonnell Douglas logo, or to be more precise, that of the Douglas Company logo, which was a circle (= globe) encircled by a stylized flying emblem, with the name of the Company "DOUGLAS", placed to the left of the circle. DC/MD merger carried forward this logo with "DOUGLAS" replaced by "MCDONNELL DOUGLAS", with the typeface still placed to the left of the circle. When MD merged with Boeing, this logo was retained, but (usually) colored all-blue, and slightly revised, with the name "BOEING" now appearing to the right of the circle, which is the logo we see today. So, this final logo is a highly significant (composite) signature symbolizing the incredible history of all these three companies...!

Just as the 4-engined Jumbos (B747/A340/A380) have eventually fallen out of favor with (most) modern modern operators...(e.g., as I write this, Boeing is nearing completion of final assembly of the very last (newly built) 4-engined (commercial) Jumbo of the world, a 747-8 Freighter, expected to be delivered to Atlas Air in a month or two), the 3-engined big jets of the 70s (DC-10s, L-1011s, MD-11s), too, were destined to be replaced by the (newer) twin-jet long-haulers. Nonetheless, if the (already entrenched) Douglas, McDonnell Douglas, or Lockheed had made a twin-version of their (remarkable) trijets (e.g. search for "Twin-engined DC-10 (Design Model D-969)" that came so close to fruition - looking eerily similar to the (twinjet) A300B4, first entry from Airbus, that flew in 1972, and still remains popular to the current times...), who knows what would have happened...🙂...Oh well...

The DC-9 regarded as the "father" (or is it "grandfather"...🙂...?) of the family of twin jets in the DC/MD lineage, was a clean-sheet (enduring and endearing) design. Its 2nd-Gen derivative was MD-80 (aka DC-9-80). Its 3rd-Gen derivatives were MD-90 (a stretched MD-80), and the B717 (a shrunk MD-80). So, even the most modern B717, that's flying today, with an ultra-modern (full) glass (MD-11 look-alike) cockpit (see one shot below), is actually the youngest member of the DC-9 family tree. Thus, though equipped with more advanced avionics and more powerful engines and performance than the DC-9, all these a/c essentially belong to the same DC-9 family (sharing the same type rating). In my DC-9 pictures of previous post, you may spot the "old school" (FMS-free) basic Autopilot panel on the pedestal; whereas, in the (symbolic) MD-87 pictures of this post, the (more advanced) autopilot has been relocated to the usual spot on the Glareshield, up front, (see images, below), with the LNAV, VNAV, Auto-throttle, Autoland capabilities/buttons, controlled by FMS, just as for a modern airliner.

And just as DC-9-20 was a special DC-9 (see my previous post), a shrunken version of the more powerful DC-9-30; likewise, the MD-87 was special within the MD-80 series, a shrunken (long-range) version of the (other) MD-80 series. MD-87 was the first MD-80 to incorporate an EFIS (PFD/ND) cockpit instead of the more traditional (ADI/HSI) analog flight deck of the other MD-80s (or the DC-9s). The EFIS control panel which can be spotted in below images (curiously, located below the captain's window, to the left of Captain's Nose Gear Steering Wheel), allowed the setting of the [ND] display to ROSE/ARC/MAP/PLAN modes, a novelty for MD-80, that's commonly present in today's modern airliner cockpits, collocated on the Glareshield itself with the Autopilot. The MD-80 series is affectionately(?) nicknamed "Mad Dog", hailing from its initials, but also because of its powerful (and noisy) take-off and the fact that, unlike most modern planes, it requires a pilot's full attention to fly and land...and, also, probably, most significantly, because the MD-80 is/was known to make the most annoying cockpit sounds ever of any plane. If you wish to hear these sounds, please search for (and listen to) the (hilarious) 32sec "MD-80 Tribute" video...and see if you agree. The first MD-87 was delivered to Austrian Airlines (see takeoff pictures, below), and the last MD-87 was delivered to SAS (see landing pictures, below). 

The MD-87 was 17 ft shorter than other MD-80s, and 22 ft shorter than the MD-90. For relative comparison, I've also included, below, one shot of the shortest (i.e., the oldest and first) DC-9 family member, a Delta DC-9-10, and one shot of the longest (i.e., the youngest and last) MD-90 family member, an MD-90-30, in the (Classic/Tri-flag) SAS "Scandinavian Belly Stripes" livery. These two images, along with one shot of the (most advanced) B717 flightdeck, form the divider between my two sets of (MD-87) pictures, below, of the Austrian, and the SAS, in the more familiar "Bold Red Engines and a Blue Tail" livery... 

Hope you enjoy this collection of pictures...! Thanks for your interest...!!

Edited October 1, 20223 yr by P_7878

Superb shots, thanks for showing them..

And thanks for the huge Information you wrote down 👍

cheers 😉

Very nice shots! 😉 

Great post as usual . 🙂

Folks: Many thanks for the comments...🙂....!! Cheers...!

Many thanks for the interesting info and screenies, P_7878 !!

I never knew about The MD-87.Another Great Informative Post.

Thanks for the additional comments, bernd and Patrick...!!

Cool shots!  I worked these things for real for years and years.  If you enter any MD series or even the 717 series and look at the stamped metal plate on the door sill you'll see they're all DC-9's.

16 hours ago, Jack_Sawyer said:

Cool shots!  I worked these things for real for years and years.  If you enter any MD series or even the 717 series and look at the stamped metal plate on the door sill you'll see they're all DC-9's.

Thanks, Jack, always great to hear from first-hand experience .... here...🙂...yes, before I knew about same rating of DC-9 through B717, a RW pilot, here, had commented the same on one of my B717 posts...I could not believe it first.... (This reminds me it's time to fly the TFDi B717 again...have not touched that SIM in a while...really like that plane/SIM...)

1 minute ago, P_7878 said:

Thanks, Jack, always great to hear from first-hand experience .... here...🙂...yes, before I knew about same rating of DC-9 through B717, a RW pilot, here, had commented the same on one of my B717 posts...I could not believe it first.... (This reminds me it's time to fly the TFDi B717 again...have not touched that SIM in a while...really like that plane/SIM...)

You should see how difficult they are to work on.  And the flight control drum is in the center bag bin behind the forward wall.  This is a cable drum which weighs a couple of hundred pounds (90 kilos) and the cables that run through it are about an inch in diameter and they control the wing flight controls.  It's a very very old design, I think it goes back to the Stone Age or maybe earlier.  🙂 

On 10/8/2022 at 9:13 AM, Jack_Sawyer said:

You should see how difficult they are to work on.  And the flight control drum is in the center bag bin behind the forward wall.  This is a cable drum which weighs a couple of hundred pounds (90 kilos) and the cables that run through it are about an inch in diameter and they control the wing flight controls.  It's a very very old design, I think it goes back to the Stone Age or maybe earlier.  🙂

...Spoken by someone who really knows about this stuff...🙂...Interesting details, Jack...! We've come a long way, for sure...!