I spent 3828 hours and 33 minutes flying these as a Captain at Northwest Airlines;

http://airchive.com/blog/2014/...light-history-books/

Thank GOD they are finally retiring those BEASTS! I lost a good friend on Alaska Airlines flying one over CA...and didn't make it home....three days later we were coming home from SCI Convention on Alaska...and we did an 8 minute WHOOPDEDOO...around the patch and thankfully made a safe landing with the Tail Feathers still intact...trim locked up....and this is the bird they grounded and the FAA did all of the down deep inspections on the tail to determine the CAUSE....ie improper lubrication of the Jack Screw ...and it came apart!!
I hated it when they de-iced at Sea-Tac in July because of the fuel tank issues that could cause freeze up going through icing in the summer....on and on....
I avoided them like the plague after the AK disaster....my next door neighbor flew the same bird the day prior to the accident too....now that is a CLOSE CALL!!
I won't be missing them...even though the pilots thought of them as the Cadillac's vs Boeing the Trucks!!
Cheers,

Spent the better part of 10years flying one for USair out of Pittsburgh with no complaints.

quote:

Originally posted by f224:
I spent 3828 hours and 33 minutes flying these as a Captain at Northwest Airlines;

http://airchive.com/blog/2014/...light-history-books/

I saw your post over on APC. I've never flown the 9 but I flew it's daddy the DC-8.

quote:

Originally posted by 470EDDY:
Thank GOD they are finally retiring those BEASTS! I lost a good friend on Alaska Airlines flying one over CA...and didn't make it home....three days later we were coming home from SCI Convention on Alaska...and we did an 8 minute WHOOPDEDOO...around the patch and thankfully made a safe landing with the Tail Feathers still intact...trim locked up....and this is the bird they grounded and the FAA did all of the down deep inspections on the tail to determine the CAUSE....ie improper lubrication of the Jack Screw ...and it came apart!!
I hated it when they de-iced at Sea-Tac in July because of the fuel tank issues that could cause freeze up going through icing in the summer....on and on....
I avoided them like the plague after the AK disaster....my next door neighbor flew the same bird the day prior to the accident too....now that is a CLOSE CALL!!
I won't be missing them...even though the pilots thought of them as the Cadillac's vs Boeing the Trucks!!
Cheers,

The problem's you're describing are all related to the MD-80 series airplanes. The deicing in July relates to ice ingestion from the frost that forms on the super cooled wings when they would refuel them.

Sorry for your loss, there was no excuse for the Alaska Maintenance Controllers pressing that crew to continue to Seattle instead of landing at the first sign of trouble.

YUP, bad decisions, Dispatchers, Maintenance and especially the pilots.....their skin was in the game and should have landed at Ontario, CA when they first had problem!
Scared the hell out of us 2 days later....should have grounded all of them until inspected and corrected the problems!!- they did after the Reno flight!
Cheers,

The MD-80 and its variants are among the last extant reminders that there once was another American manufacturer, McDonnell Douglas, to compete with Boeing and Airbus for jet orders from the airlines.

Measured by accident data alone, the MD-80 is considered to be one of the safest planes in the sky. According to Boeing Commercial Airplanes, the plane has a fatal hull loss rate — meaning a crash involving fatalities — of 0.34 per one million departures, and an overall hull-loss, or crash, rate of 0.52 per million departures.

By comparison, the average record for all commercial jets is 0.89 fatal hull losses per million departures, and an overall rate of 1.64 hull losses per million departures, Boeing said.

Any questions ? I only feel safe on a DC 3.

YUP, I hear you...but when you lose a buddy on one...and have the hell scared out of you 2 days later....avoid the product, regardless of the stats!!

And, Yes, it was probably the Alaska maintenance controllers/dispatchers that contributed...the accident plane was having problems with trim at PV, Mexico at takeoff...and was limping along yet at Ontario....why not precautionary landing?? Pilots should have taken evasive actions to save their own ass!!
Then the fleet continued to fly...until the Reno flight we experienced departing from SCI convention-two days later....not fun, as a pilot and knowing the loss two days earlier!!
Whole fleet should have been grounded until resolved.....I saw the pilot in the back room when we went in to collect our baggage....he still was not speaking....laundry?? We didn't fly home that night on another MD-80 sent down....we drove to Sacramento and flew home on a B-737 next day!!...and we drove through 1 1/2 feet of snow on Donner pass heading over...

I coached many friends then flying MD-80 to transition to B-737...seniors that were too close to retirement to do that normally...some didn't, some did...and they are still flying BBJ's today...a real top cabin Biz Jet...you don't see many MD-80's flying as Biz jets, a very few as "team aircraft" and election campaign machines!!...not my cup of Jo in any colors!!
Cheers,

Dave, just curious, over the years how many engines did you loose in flight?

How about you other commercial pilots??

Hi all
There are not many things as reliable as a modern jet engine,that's why we can fly almost anywhere in the world in twin engined aircraft.I flew the B737 and B767 for twenty nine years and never had to shutdown an engine.Lost several engines in the old days on the DC-3 and PBY. Fifty one years flying this year forty eight commercially 30000+
Bill

quote:

Originally posted by N E 450 No2:
Dave, just curious, over the years how many engines did you loose in flight?

How about you other commercial pilots??

I've been flying large commercial jets for 19 years. I've got somewhere around 11,000+ hours.

I've never "lost" as in had to shut down or had a jet engine shut down on me. Twice I've had to reduce power and run them at reduced thrust due to over temp issues. Once was on a 737-300 that had a high pressure bleed air valve stick open. We were able to continue to our destination with that engine running at a reduced power setting. The other was on a DC-8 that had a combination bleed issus and a generator issue that caused us to run the engine at idle thrust and disconnect the constant speed drive that connects the engine to the generator. we didn't shut it down as we were on the approach to our destination when it happened.

I've lost or had to shut down four engines on other than commercial airliners. I lost a Garret TPE 331-10 turbo prop engine on take off on a Merlin III due to a high pressure fuel pump shaft failure, I lost an R-1340 radial engine on an AT-6 on take off due to a massive structural failure of the number 5 master connecter rod. I had to shut down an R1820 on a Lockheed L-18 due to an engine fire that was caused by a cracked B-nut on the back side of the pressure carb. and finally several years ago i lost an O-470 Continental engine in flight on a C-180, due to a broken push rod on an intake valve. This one provided some excitement as I had to make a dead stick landing amongst some rather large pine trees but wound up not damaging the airplane at all.

I'd have to say that the most serious emergency I've had while flying commercial aircraft was a rapid cabin depress and subsequent emergency decent on an A-320 Airbus several years back.

quote:

Originally posted by N E 450 No2:
Dave, just curious, over the years how many engines did you loose in flight?

How about you other commercial pilots??

Single engine, just one and it was a partial failure of an O200, landed on a runway.

Piper Seneca; blew a prop seal and managed to get it feathered before it sized in the fall of '85 and landed below minimums in CID.

Helicopter; zero, that T53 is very reliable.

B747; One at top of decent, non event.

DC9 & B727; Two, one at start of takeoff roll, the other was a precautionary shutdown due to high oil temp. Had three other precautionary landings due to compressor stalls and fluctuating N2. One of which I got into a pissing contest with the Dir of Ops over. Interesting that none of my JT8 engine problems were core related, all were accessories.

B757; 4000 plus engine incident or failure free hours.

W670 radial on my Stearman, 840 trouble free hours.