McDonnell Douglas DC-9

McDonnell Douglas · United States · first flew 1965 · airliner

The McDonnell Douglas DC-9 is a short-haul twinjet with two rear-fuselage engines and a T-tail, the founder of a long and successful family of aircraft.

Recognition (WEFT)

W — Wings	Low-mounted, swept
E — Engines	2 × turbofan, fuselage-mounted
F — Fuselage	Two engines high on the rear fuselage
T — Tail	T-tail

WEFT is AircraftIQ's four-point recognition method — how it works.

Spot it by:

Two engines high on the rear fuselage
T-tail over a clean low swept wing
Slim five-abreast single-aisle body

Spot the two engines mounted high on the rear fuselage beneath a T-tail, with a clean low swept wing carrying no underwing pods and a slim five-abreast fuselage shorter and tubbier than the later MD-80.

Specifications

The McDonnell Douglas DC-9 has a length of 36.4 m (119 ft).
It has a wingspan of 28.4 m (93 ft).
Its maximum speed is 898 km/h (558 mph).
Typical crew: 2.

Figures are for the representative variant described above; marks differ. See how AircraftIQ sources figures.

History

First flown in 1965 and entering Delta service that December, the DC-9 competed with the BAC One-Eleven and Boeing 737. Some 976 were built between 1965 and 1982, and the basic design evolved into the MD-80, MD-90 and ultimately the Boeing 717.

Variants

The line ran from the short -10 and SAS long-wing -20 through the best-selling -30 to the larger -40 and -50, with many aircraft fitted with built-in forward and aft airstairs for self-sufficient operations.

Where you'll see it

UK use was lighter than for the rival One-Eleven, with British Midland Airways the principal operator, flying DC-9-15s and -32s from Heathrow from 1976. The type is now largely retired from passenger service, surviving mostly as cargo aircraft, with no intact UK museum example confirmed.

Related aircraft

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