I always thought the MD-80 was most comfortable at around .77. The wing looks a bit Hershey-bar-ish for eight-oh.
Yes…a bit of follow up Googling (oh Lord) seems to indicate 250 to 10K, then 310-330 for the climb, M.75 - M.78 for cruise.
Stats are from this guy who is a simmer and former MD80 pilot:
On my way from Salt Lake City (Utah) down to Palm Springs (California) this morning - going to shoot that fun looking RNP 13R approach!
As a lifelong early Citation pilot…I only have one thing to say:
I auto-throttles.
Great morning flight down from SLC to PSP. Always enjoyable at 5AM with a cup of coffee…some peace and quiet…
Love looking out the windows on these flights out in the Southwest…I’m always wondering what X aircraft used these dry lake beds…
Coming across Las Vegas and Lake Mead…
Had a great time flying the SBONO1 with the RNP to 13R…the curving RNP approaches are always kind of cool to see…
The RNP approach curves you down through the valley northeast of Palm Springs…would be fun in some really bad weather…
No wonder I used ALL of the runway…
The freeware Palm Springs by Flyfree Productions is one of the nicest airports available for X-Plane…it rivals most payware…
Went back to the cargo area of the main ramp…tight squeeze back there and could have used some wing walkers!
I love the challenge of getting these bigger planes parked though…although I have the cheat of being able to use external views…
Mudspike Air Cargo is killing it now with the commodity market and these huge airplanes…
There is a method to my madness! Out of Palm Springs to make the short hop over the mountains to Long Beach, California (KLGB)…
As a pilot, I appreciate any signage that helps me not screw up…
Light load out of Palm Springs - that airport only had about 15,000 pounds of useful commodities…
Cleaning up during the climb and routing around the near 11,000’ mountains just west of Palm Springs…
Once over the mountains, having to get draggy to get down in time to catch the ILS into Long Beach…
On final over an industrial area…
Not sure what the big pyramid is all about…
Finally…finally…a GREASER!! I’ve been looking for one of those in the Maddog!
On the ramp and ready for a bit of maintenance. Long Beach was the home of McDonnell Douglas - sometimes the MD-80 was referred to as the Long Beach Sewer Pipe. Eventually Douglas would merge with Boeing in 1997 with Boeing ending production on the last Douglas designed jet (the MD95/Boeing 717) in 2006. In 2015, after 73 years of operation, the factory at Long Beach was shut once and for all as the final C-17 left the plant.
Saw that DC jets sign just this Thursday when I was at KLGB picking up a friend.
Wheels
Dang…makes me want one… Lord help me if I get a real Ego Room to collect stuff and display it…
So there was a purpose to traveling to Long Beach - I’ve enjoyed flying the Laminar MD82 so much that I thought it would probably be even more fun to go ahead and switch to the Rotate MD88. With a bit of .ACF renaming so as not to corrupt my Air Hauler fleet, I managed to get AH to recognize the Rotate MD88 as the Laminar MD82.
Though most of the factory buildings that were McDonnell Douglas are now plowed under, there are some remaining buildings and of course the iconic sign. I made some calls around the area, dug up some tooling (haha) and successfully converted my MD-82 into an MD-88 freighter. I borrowed kirksunley’s nifty fictional Lufthansa Cargo skin and marked it up to put it into Mudspike Air Cargo service…
I also borrowed nacelle paint from another aircraft…and the star tail from the Texas Livery (hey @boomerang10!) by Mark787 - so basically I Frankenstein’d it…
I did some extra work on the cargo door…putting some structural reinforcement…err…yeah…
The Rotate MD88 is just quite a bit more polished (obviously) than the default Laminar MD82. I found the Laminar MD82 such a challenge and fun to fly and I’ve had the Rotate MD88 in my hangar for years…
More functionality for everything on the overhead to systems and FMC…
Nice looking panel that retains the old school layout - I’m glad it is not much different from the MD82 and even though some additional features are modeled, I don’t think it will be very hard to come to grips with it…
The FMC is a fair bit more complicated…which is good and bad I suppose…I’ll probably end up green-needling the thing anyway…
So there ya’ have it. Thanks Long Beach for providing a quick turn around on my MD82 → MD88 conversion. Time to go make some money. I suspect I’ll be back in Long Beach for some other requirements down the road…
Nice trip @BeachAV8R.
In a somewhat ironic twist to me, Mercedes Benz occupies the former Douglas plant on the corner of Lakewood Blvd. and E. Conant St.where the sign is located.
Wheels
That’s some… interesting reinforcement
I used Flex Seal…!
{EDIT} Sometimes I write stuff and read it a moment later thinking, “Who cares!” This was one of those posts. Moving on…
Nah…I would have been interested in reading your thoughts! Undo the undo!
Basically I said in a thousand words: “I like the MD-80 pit!”
If only (real life) initial type rides were this easy!
What, no single engine hand flown raw data VOR approach to a rejected landing at 50ft AGL!?!
If there’s one place who cares… It has to be here
It is a cozy one. I’ve never been in a real MD80 series cockpit before…I’m gonna have to find one I can crawl into so I can solidify in my mind how it should feel. The two tube EFIS is a good semi-concession to technology that doesn’t feel out of place in it.
I know right? I’d trade my real checkrides for the Air Hauler one in a hot second…!