The Douglas DC-9 is a twin rear engined single aisle jet airliner. The Douglas DC-9 was designed for frequent short flights mainly regional routes. The DC-9 was the first aircraft in this new family of narrow body airlines followed by the MD-80, MD-90 and MD-95/717.
Aircraft Series Series 10 The series 10 is the original DC-9 what was just the DC-9 at first. This version is 104.4ft long and had a maxium take off weight of 82,000lb. It had two Pratt & Whitney JT8D-7 engines, 137 of this model was built. Series 20 This series was designed for Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) to improve short field performance by having more powerful engines and improved wings, it also had a shorter fuselage then the -10 series. Series 30 662 series 30 aircraft where produced, these where to compete with Boeing's 737 single aisle twin engined jet. The first operator of this type was Eastern airlines in February 1967. There where three engine types used on the 30 series, the P&W JT8D-7 and JT8D--9 what produced 14,500lb of thrust or the JT8D-11 with 15,000lb of thrust. This model had a stretched fuselage by 14ft 9 inches and a increased wingspan of a little over 3ft. Series 40
The DC-9-40 was again a lengthened version with 6ft 6 inches added on. This version first entered service with Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) in March 1968, Series 50 The final series is the longest DC-9 produced, this had a 8ft 2 inch fuselage stretch and could seat up to 139 passengers. This started service in August 1975 with Eastern Airlines. A number of improvements where made to the -50 series, including a new cabin interior, more power full engines (JT8D-15 or 17, producing between 16,000lb and 16,500lb of thrust). They added new thrust reversers what rotated 22 degrees but later maintenance changes meant some had the same thrust reversers as the -30 and -40 series. Military C-9 The C-9 was a military aero medical evacuation aircraft, it was the C-9A Nightingale for the USAF and the C-9B Sky Train II for the US Naval Reserve and Marine Corps. There where 48 of these built. Current Main Operators
Specifications
Historical Large Operators
Promotional Material
Early DC-9 flyer describing the efficiency and punctuality of the modern jet. Click to enlarge. |
Purpose: Narrow Body Airliner
First Flight: February 25 1965 Introduction: December 8 1965 with Delta Air Lines Status: In Limited Service Production: 1965-1982 Airframes built: 976 Developed into: McDonnell Douglas MD-80 Unit Cost: US$41.5 to $48.5 million Accidents and Incidents Up to March 2009 the DC-9 has been involved in 117 incidents.
Deliveries 1965-5 | 1966-69 | 1967-153 | 1968-202 | 1969-122 | 1970-50 | 1971-46 | 1972-32 | 1973-29 | 1974-48 | 1975-42 | 1976-50 | 1977-22 | 1978-22 | 1979-39 | 1980-18 | 1981-16 | 1982-10 | Total: 976 DC-9 Timeline 1963 Douglas decided to build the DC-9 1965 25th February - First flight of the DC-9-10 8th December - DC-9-10 enters service 1966 1st August - First flight of the DC-9-30 1967 28th November - First Flight of the DC-9-40 1968 31st May - First flight of the C-9A 10th August - First C-9A delivered to the USAF 18th September - First flight of the DC-9-20 1973 7th February - First flight of the C-9B July - The DC-9-50 was launched 1974 17th December - First Flight of the DC-9-50 1977 December - The DC-9-80 is launched 1979 Flight testing of the DC-9-81 begind 1980 12th September - First DC-9-81 delivered to Swissair 1982 The last C-9B is delivered 1983 The DC-9-81 is renamed the MD-80 Displayed Aircraft
Ex Garuda Indonesia Douglas DC-9-30 PK-GNT at Transportation Museum, Taman Mini. Jakarta, Indonesia. Ex Garuda Indonesia Douglas DC-9-20 PK-GNCGaruda Maintenance Facility, Soekarno Hatta International Airport. Jakarta Indonesia Ex Aerocaribe Douglas DC-9-10 XA-TBX at Venustiano Carranza. Mexico City, Mexico. Ex Iberia Airways Douglas DC-9-30 EC-BQZ at MAD Airport. Madrid, Spain. Ex Air Canada Douglas DC-9-30 CF-TLL at Canada Aviation and Space Museum. Ontario, Canada. Ex Delta Air Lines Douglas DC-9-50 N675MC at the Delta Flight Museum at ATL Airport. Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Ex Delta Airlines Douglas DC-9-50 at N779NC at Carolinas Aviation Museum. North Carolina, USA. Ex Iberia Airways DC-9-30 EC-CGO cockpit and first 3 rows preserved at Malaga Airport museum. Malaga. Promotional Film
Incidents
The Douglas DC-9 has been involved in around 117 aviation major incidents with 101 airframe losses amounting up to 2,135 fatalities. |