McDonnell Douglas MD-80

McDonnell Douglas · United States · first flew 1979 · airliner

The McDonnell Douglas MD-80 is a stretched, re-winged development of the DC-9, retaining the rear-engine T-tail layout in a notably longer, more slender airframe.

Recognition (WEFT)

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

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

Spot it by:

Long pencil-slim DC-9 family silhouette
Two engines on rear fuselage under a T-tail
Larger wing and taller tail than a DC-9

It shows the classic DC-9 family layout of rear engines, T-tail and clean wing, but is much longer and more pencil-like, with a larger wing, taller tail and a streamlined 'beaver-tail' cone on later models.

Specifications

The McDonnell Douglas MD-80 has a length of 45.1 m (148 ft).
It has a wingspan of 32.9 m (108 ft).
Its maximum speed is 925 km/h (575 mph).
Typical crew: 2.

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

History

The 'Super 80' series prototype first flew in 1979 and entered Swissair service in 1980. Built around a larger wing and JT8D-200 series engines, it became one of the most widely flown narrowbodies of its era before US majors retired the type around 2019 to 2020.

Variants

The family spans the baseline MD-81, the most common hot-and-high MD-82, the long-range MD-83, the shortened MD-87 and the glass-cockpit MD-88.

Where you'll see it

Paramount Airways was the first UK operator, flying MD-83s from Bristol and Gatwick from 1987, British Airways leased one for Heathrow short-haul work in winter 1987-88, and British Island Airways took four at Gatwick. No major UK museum airframe is confirmed, though an ex-Itali MD-80 served as a Gatwick ground-training hulk.

Related aircraft

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