The DC-9 Story - Part 1: The Douglas DC-9

Greetings! :D

In this two part series, we'll be looking at an airliner so successful that it nearly bankrupted its parent firm, the Douglas DC-9, having crawled its way from a proposed model with no commercial interest at the beginning of the 1960s, becoming one of the most popular short to medium range airliner models by the end of the same decade, having fought off the BAC 1-11 and even given Boeing a run for their money, and from its phenomenal rise would spawn its own successive generations of twinjets that would see work into the 1980s and 90s.

The views and opinions expressed in this video are my personal appraisal and are not the views and opinions of any of these individuals or bodies who have kindly supplied me with footage and images.

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Thanks again, everyone, and enjoy! :D

References:
- Key Aero (and their respective references)
- Wikipedia (and its respective references)

[burntnougat]

Used to see many Northwest Airlines DC9 at Memphis. That red and gray color scheme was still one of the best and most iconic

[philip]

I flew on one of these just last week, well kinda; it was a B717 (Qantas, Sydney to Hobart return). Flying the B717 on one of the few carriers in the US & Australia who still have them in their fleet is probably the nearest you'll probably get to experience a commercial passenger flight on a DC-9 in 2023.

[JWUniverse]

@22:00 If that ain’t God telling you, your going to Live I don’t know what is… Bless this woman for surviving at your will Lord and I hope she became one with you afterwards! Great Doc.

[ingvarhallstrom]

The DC9 and the MD80 are probably the type of plane I've had the most air time with as a passenger, seeing my parents lived in different parts of the country and it was more or less the default jet for regional domestic flights in Sweden during the eighties and nineties. An incredibly lovely and beautiful plane.

[toomanyhobbies]

Awesome aircraft in which to ride. The acceleration and takeoff angle was great. It's why the MD-80 was nicknamed the "Mad Dog".
My mom worked on the DC-9 interior finish crew for several years.

[ConradNeill]

Wish you had Patreon or YouTube memberships. I feel guilty consuming your high-quality content at zero cost. I'm 100% sure I'm not alone in that respect. Also, the sound quality was so much better. Great work, as always.

[lcprivatepilot]

The MD80 is one of the smoothest commercial jets I’ve ever flown on while in turbulent air. Also, one of the quietest and that was in the 90’s!
My favorite seat, just forward the jet engine’s intake, which also offers a good view of the wing surfaces.

[DCDouglas]

Best documentary of the DC-9 that I've seen. Thank you 😊!
I first flew one with my hometown's Midwest Express Airlines. Most of their fleet was DC-9, until mid-2000's when their 717-2BL order started being delivered.

[cellpat]

Regardless of what the government did to force sales of it to airlines, the DC9 turned out to be a well built product as well. So well designed that it still flies today, as the Boeing 717 jetliner.

[dogbadger]

11:30 - I was under the impression that the 737 used the exact same nose and fuselage as the preceding 727 and 707 - all accommodating 6 abreast
This was an increase from the dash 80 prototype, on which the 707 was based, which originally accommodated 5 abreast but was enlarged after airline pressure.
This fuselage diameter and cabin width was continued with the 757 (albeit with new a re-designed nose, somewhat similar to the 767 design that ran concurrently )

[kurtpena]

I've made so many flights on MD80's and DC9's. It's a shame that COVID accelerated their retirement. I mostly rode on AA MD80's. Many of these were taken over from TWA. I distinctly remember flying on a Spirit Air DC9 that was configured single class. It reminded me of a bus or a train!
I hear the pilots considered it a fairly hot plane. It has high wing loading compared to the 737, so I guess it feels more like a fighter jet when you turn and climb.
These were fun planes to ride on too.

[persjofors]

Always liked to fly the DC9, especially the later MD80 versions with its engines so far back (I always sit up front) no or very little engine noise entered the cabin. Once I was on the very first model (without the leading edge slats). A plane that, at the time, was around 40 years old.

[moistbread]

Nice of you to release this video on the anniversary of the plane’s maiden flight!

[charlesmoss]

Gosh brilliant - I flew a lot on DC9 and MD80 as we travelled from London to Zurich a fair bit when I was a child - I always remember the take offs being seemingly more ‘assertive’ than on other aircraft though no idea of this was just perception and r a feature of the type. Many happy memories and I thank you for your brilliant efforts to bring these videos to us and I’m sure a lot of very hard work.

[LMays-cuhp]

Thank you for sharing the DC-9.. They are really nice. Hawaiian Airlines still fly their DC-9 in the island hopping. Delta still fly their DC-9s as well.

[GSteel-rhiu]

1:30 B707 2:15 DeHaviland Comet 2:36 DC-8 3:03 Sud Aviation Caravelle 3:27 B727 11:28 B737 19:15 Florence Nightingale Crimean War 21:43 Vesna Voluvic

[GSteel-rhiu]

Another detailed piece; looking forward to Part 2. I watch your BAC 3-11 episode every couple of months; a magnificent post-empire history of early civilian jet aviation.

[breathtakingblue]

Not even watched it yet as I’m out but I know this is going to be great! Thanks Ruairidh! 👍

[persjofors]

DC-9-20 was called "The Race Car" by SAS pilots as it had the short fuselage of the -10 variant and the wings and engines of the -40 variant. It was specified by SAS specifically for short take-off and landing performance on mountainous runways in Norway. It surely accelerated very quickly.

[Ammo]

I flew on DC-9s quite often from Denver to Memphis and back. I liked the DC-9, but the 727 is still my favorite. The only time I ever got worried was on a DC-9 taking off from Stapleton at Denver. It was a hot day and the plane was loaded, , , I thought we were never going to get off the ground...even the Air Force pilot next to me in the passenger cabin told me he was getting concerned.