DC-9

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The Douglas DC-9 (later known as the McDonnell Douglas DC-9), was a narrow-body jet airliner with a T-tail and two engines mounted on either side of the rear end of the fuselage. It was one of the most successful airliners of all time; across all variants, including the McDonnell Douglas MD-80 series, the McDonnell Douglas MD-90, and the Boeing 717, a total of more than 2400 DC-9's were built over the course of more than 40 years.


History

Douglas Aircraft began initial design work for what would ultimately become the DC-9 in 1962. The aircraft was especially designed to operate effectively at smaller regional airports with smaller terminals and shorter runways, explaining its narrow body, relatively small wings, and rear mounted engines.

The first production aircraft made its maiden flight on February 25, 1965, and after receiving its airworthiness certification, the plane entered service with Delta Airlines on December 8.

The plane was always intended to have stretched variants that could carry more passengers; in addition to the initial model, designated the DC-9-10 series (with the -15 variant being the most common), the -20, -30, -40, and -50 stretched variants were rapidly introduced. Three final variant series were produced under different names, with the -80 and -90 being renamed to the McDonnell Douglas MD-80 and the McDonnell Douglas MD-90 to make them sound like newer airplanes, and the -95 variant being renamed the Boeing 717 after Boeing bought McDonnell Douglas in 1997.

In addition, there were four variants of the military version of the DC-9, designated the C-9: the C-9A Nightingale used by the Air Force, and the C-9B Skytrain II, used by the Naval Reserve and the Marine Corps, the VC-9C, used by US presidents and vice-presidents as Air Force One and Air Force Two, and the C-9K model, two of which were built for export to Kuwait.

The last Boeing 717 rolled off the production line in 2006.


Commercial Variant Specifications

For a comparison of the major commercial DC-9 variants, see the table below.


DC-9-15 DC-9-20 DC-9-30 DC-9-40 DC-9-50 DC-9-81 (MD-81) DC-9-82/88 (MD 82/88) DC-9-83 (MD 83) DC-9-87 (MD 87) DC-9-90 (MD-90) DC-9-95 (MD-95, Boeing 717-200)
Flight crew 2
Seating capacity 90 115 125 139 172 (1-class)
155 (2 class)
139 (1-class)
130 (2 class)
172 (1-class)
153 (2-class)
117 (1-class)
106 (2-class)
Length 104 ft 4¾ in
(31.82 m)
119 ft 3½ in
(36.37 m)
125 ft 7¼ in
(38.28 m)
133 ft 7¼ in
(40.72 m)
147 ft 8 in (45.01 m) 130 ft 4 in (39.73 m) 152 ft 7 in
(46.5 m)
124 ft 0 in (37.8 m)
Wingspan 89 ft 5 in
(27.25 m)
93 ft 5 in
(28.47 m)
107 ft 10 in
(32.87 m)
93 ft 5 in (28.47 m)
Wing Area 934.3 sq ft
(86.77 m²)
1,000.7 sq ft
(92.97 m²)
1,209 sq ft (112.3 m2) 1000.7 sq ft (92.97 m2)
Tail Height 27 ft 6 in
(8.38 m)
28 ft 0 in
(8.53 m)
29 ft 7 in (9.02 m) 30 ft 4 in (9.25 m) 30 ft 6 in
(9.4 m)
29 ft 1 in (8.92 m)
Empty weight 49,020 lb
(22,235 kg)
52,880 lb
(23,880 kg)
57,190 lb
(25,940 kg)
58,670 lb
(26,612 kg)
61,880 lb
(28,068 kg)
77,900 lb (35,300 kg) 78,000 lb (35,400 kg) 79,700 lb (36,200 kg) 73,300 lb (33,200 kg) 88,000 lb (39,915 kg) 68,500 lb (31,071 kg)
Max takeoff
weight
90,700 lb
(41,100 kg)
98,000 lb
(44,500 kg)
108,000 lb
(49,090 kg)
114,000 lb
(51,700 kg)
121,000 lb
(54,900 kg)
140,000 lb (63,500 kg) 149,500 lb (67,800 kg) 160,000 lb (72,600 kg) 140,000 lb (63,500 kg) 156,000 lb
(70,760 kg)
121,000 lb (54,900 kg)
Engines (x2) P&W JT8D-5 or -7 P&W JT8D-11 P&W JT8D-7, -9, -11, -15 or -17 P&W JT8D-9, -11, -15 or -17 P&W JT8D-15 or -17 P&W JT8D-200 series IAE V2525-D5 Rolls Royce BR715
Engine thrust (x2) 12,250 to 14,000 lbf (54.5 to 62.3 kN) 14,500 lbf (64.5 kN) 14,000 to 16,000 lbf (62.3 to 71.2 kN) 14,500 to 16,000 lbf (64.5 to 71.2 kN) 15,500 to 16,000 lbf (69 to 71.2 kN) 18,500 to 21,000 lbf (82 to 93 kN) 25,000 lbf (111 kN) 21,000 lbf (93.4 kN)
Max cruise
(at 25,000 ft (7,620 m))
490 kn
(564 mph,
907 km/h)
494 kn
(569 mph,
915 km/h)
490 kn
(565 mph,
907 km/h)
485 kn
(558 mph,
898 km/h)
500 kn
(575 mph,
925 km/h)
Maximum range, fully loaded 1,590 nmi
(1,831 mi,
2,946 km)
1,605 nmi
(1,848 mi,
2,974 km)
1,670 nmi
(1,923 mi,
3,095 km)
1,555 nmi
(1,790 mi,
2,880 km)
1,795 nmi
(2,067 mi,
3,326 km)
1,570 nmi (2,910 km; 1,810 mi) 2,050 nmi (3,800 km; 2,360 mi) 2,500 nmi (4,600 km; 2,900 mi) 2,370 nmi (4,390 km; 2,730 mi) 2,085 nmi (3,860 km) 2,060 nmi (3,815 km)
Fuel capacity 3,700 US gallons (14,000 l) 3,679 US gal (13,930 l) 5,038 US gal (19,070 l) 5,850 US gal (22,100 L) 5,850 US gal (22,100 L) 7,000 US gal (26,000 L) 5,850 US gal (22,100 L) 4,403 US gal  (16,665 L)

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