Airline's MD-80s fly into sunset

American’s longtime workhorses take last flights to N.M.

An American Airlines MD-80 aircraft sits at a gate Sunday at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. On Wednesday, after 36 years, the airline made its last MD-80 commercial trip, flying from Dallas to Chicago.
An American Airlines MD-80 aircraft sits at a gate Sunday at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. On Wednesday, after 36 years, the airline made its last MD-80 commercial trip, flying from Dallas to Chicago.

Julio Gomez has flown the MD-80 for his entire 20-year career at American Airlines. But he can't bring himself to make that final trip into the New Mexico desert.

"I just cannot take that airplane to its grave," Gomez, 52, said of the iconic jets' retirement flights on Wednesday. "It's just too heartbreaking." Instead, the veteran pilot made his closing flight late Tuesday.

The retirements mark the end of an era at American for the workhorse known as the Super 80, whose old-school design and noisy rear engines spawned love-hate relationships over the four decades it flew. The plane once provided the backbone of American, powering the carrier's expansion through the end of last century on bread-and-butter routes such as Chicago to New York or Dallas to St. Louis.

The jet "basically was American Airlines," Gomez said. At its 2002 peak, 362 of the MD-80 aircraft made up 44% of the carrier's fleet. "If American kept the Super 80 until I'm 65, I'd be flying it," Gomez said.

The single-aisle jet could be challenging to fly, but it sharpened pilots' skills and earned the loyalty of aviators like Gomez, who relished having more control over every aspect of the plane.

Airlines now have moved on to models with better fuel efficiency, additional seats and the latest technology, including a more computerized cockpit. The routes dominated by the MD-80s have been taken over by newer versions of jet families such as the Boeing Co. 737 and Airbus SE's A320.

So on Wednesday, after 36 years, American operated the last commercial trip of the MD-80, flying from Dallas to Chicago. It was Flight 80. In the morning at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, employees took turns posing with giant letters and numbers made of silver balloons arranged to spell out MD-80. Music from the 1980s blared.

American is ferrying the last 23 of its MD-80 jets to a desert parking lot in Roswell, N.M., with one staying at the Dallas-Fort Worth airport to be used for future de-icing practice. Two more will be donated to flight-training schools.

"It certainly has served us well," American chief executive Doug Parker said inside a small, stifling hangar in Roswell where barbecue was being served to pilots and other current and former employees.

They stood outside in 92-degree heat to watch the arrival of each MD-80's flight on its final landing at the sprawling aircraft storage yard, which also is serving as a temporary home for grounded Boeing 737 Max jets.

The MD-80 aircraft that aren't leased likely will be used for other companies seeking parts, particularly engines, said Josh Freed, a spokesman for American.

Delta Air Lines Inc. continues flying some MD-88s and MD-90s, later vintages of the model.

But it was the original MD-80, dubbed "Mad Dog" by pilots, that once seized the industry's imagination when it was introduced by McDonnell Douglas Corp. It earned other nicknames through the years: "silver bullet," for its polished aluminum fuselage; "Harley" because it was loud and fast; and "the Long Beach sewer pipe," because it was manufactured in Long Beach, Calif., and had an extended length.

Two engines positioned on either side of the fuselage in front of the tail were so loud they made the plane easily recognizable. While the pilots and first-class passengers enjoyed an unusually quiet ride up front, flight attendants complained about the noise of the two engines in coach.

"My husband used to say, 'I can tell you've been flying the Super 80 because you are yelling when you are talking,'" said Jennifer Brissette, a 23-year flight attendant at American.

The airline, led at the time by chief executive Robert Crandall, leased its first 20 of the new commercial jets from McDonnell Douglas in 1982, then quickly added 13 more. The airline began operating the aircraft the next year.

In March 1984, American placed what was then the largest-ever order for commercial aircraft, for 67 MD-80s with options to buy 100 more. The fleet got another boost when American acquired Trans World Airlines and its 104 MD-80s in 2001.

The planes had 12 first-class seats and 130 in coach, with two on one side of the aisle and three on the other. They flew routes as long as 1,800 miles for American, and helped to start the airline's hub-and-spoke operating system.

American pilot Sam Mayer moved up to captain on the MD-80 in 1999 after a decade flying as a first officer on Boeing Co.'s 727 and then the 767 -- both of which had a much higher level of cockpit automation.

"I remember thinking it was the most un-ergonomic cockpit I had ever seen, with switches and dials seemingly placed at random spots all over the cockpit, bearing no semblance to any other aircraft I had ever seen," Mayer said. "When they talk about 'seat of the pants flying,' the MD-80 will be the last of the breed."

Gomez was first hooked when he took a night flight on the jet when he was young. One glance into the darkened cockpit with its dazzling constellation of lighted dials and gauges was part of the reason he became a pilot.

There's no plane left that gives pilots the same sense of control as they input data manually instead of commanding onboard computers, he said.

"On the Super 80, you are figuring in your head, planning descents, when to start down, when to start reducing speeds," Gomez said. "Your mind is always moving. With the MD-80, you're flying."

Business on 09/05/2019

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