Originally Posted by
Daze
I rode a DC9-40 MSP-RST-LSE in 1990--talk about a couple of mortar lobs.
The 40 series is a rare bird to begin with: Only about 24 frames ever built, originally a custom job for SAS. NW sucked them up in the 80's binge on secondhand DC9's.
Well, after the merger with RC they had the -10s, -30s, -50s and the MD80s, so it made sense to pick up the -40s for fleet commonality for maintenance. I always wondered where they got the -40s, because RC didn't have them. The first time I was on one I couldn't figure out if it was a -30 or a -50, but it just didn't look right, until I found out it was a -40. I got real used to telling which of the three I was on, after all my miles on RC, it sure had me confused.