Flying in an MD-80
 

My wife has this fear of flying in the smaller airplanes like the MD80. She gets motion sickness and in general is a terrible flyer.

My question, because I've never flown on a smaller airplane, is there any real difference between the MD80 and say, a 737-800?

Thanks!

It really is not that much smaller. Any plane is going to bump around in turbulent air.

I like MD-80s in that you can sit on the 2 seat side and have one less neighbor, although if you sit in the back of the plane you'll have the engines right by your ears.

Flying in an MD-80
 

Not really. The 737 is a little wider (assuming you are not in first class) with 3x3 seating instead of 3x2. if it's just the two of you the MD will be nicer if you get seats on the two side. Depending on models the MD will often be longer.

Depending on where you sit the MD can be quieter - or louder. The 737 has engines on the wing and the MD has engines in the rear. If you are seated at the back the MD can be louder - especially at the very back. if you are seated in the middle or forward. the MD is a little quieter. Overall both are incredibly safe and reliable aircraft. The MD has a better raw number safety record - but that's likely because there are more 737s than MD so you would expect higher numbers.
The MD iis not a regional jet - it is bigger than the regional jets - bigger than the CRJ 900 etc.

The MD was built back in the 80s as the McDonnell Douglas answer to the 737. It had some early advantages for altitude and climate issues with short runways but today's models are pretty equal. Today the MD is known as the Boeing 717 and they are still being built.

No, they're not, and haven't been for almost a decade. Boeing stopped making them right around when they stopped making the 757

Whatever the aircraft try to book seats in the wing section as
that will be the most stable.

If you are way in the back there is more movement and with
some aircraft, such as the MD80, the noise will be louder.

most of the MadDog's fuselage/cabin length is ahead of the wing, so the Dutch roll is much less noticeable in the back

as far as designators, the MD-80 was originally the DC-9-80; the 717 began as the MD-95 ... only the MD-90 hasn't had a change of nomenclature in its history

Well, the Mad Dog's original planform, like the 737's, dates from the mid-1960s, when it was designated the DC-9... not the 1980s. And after the MD-80 / / 81 / 82 / 83 / 87 / 88 period the airframe was updated (stretched) yet again and sold as the MD-90. A shortened MD-95 was rebranded as the Boeing 717 after the merger. 717 production ended in 2006; it is not still being built.

Like the long-running Volkswagen Beetle, the aircraft known as the DC-9 / MD-80 / MD-90 / Boeing 717 went through major technological changes during its 40-year production history, but they all pretty much look the same.

That said it is a great airplane and, in a world of CR2s and EMB145s, should not be considered a "smaller" airliner. It is standard-sized, and very nice to fly, especially if you can get seats on or just forward of the wing spar. Rearmost seats can be noisy.

The Mad Dog, despite having a smaller cabin cross-section, feels more spacious inside in economy because of the 2-3 seating configuration. It feels about the same in first class.

The further forward you sit, the quieter it will be, as described above. In first it is one of the quietest narrowbodies around in my experience.

Given a choice between a flight on a 737 and a Mad Dog, I would choose the dog every time.

As a few people have already pointed out, the MD80 is not a "smaller aircraft". It does however differ from both the 737 and A320, which are similar in size. I love the MD80 and always pick it (or DC9/717/MD90) rather than a 737 or A320. The main reason is the 2-3 seating.

Im not sure if everyone would agree with me, but I find the MD80 take-offs much more "violent" than on other aircrafts. This sometimes makes me dizzy. Also the MD80 seems to be less stable when descending, which has also caused me a little bit of motion sickness. I havent noticed any differences during cruise. This opinion is based on about 30 DC9/MD80/MD90/717 flights.

Yes but I enjoy it. Before the development of quieter engines sitting in the back of a DC9 taking off from a short runway was something I looked forward to. Low-bypass turbofan, full power, rapid climb, tilted back, pressed in the seat, engines roaring. It was great!

I agree, though I'm not sure this is something a very nervous flyer would look forward to, lol. ;)

That said, I love the MD-80 and the 2x3 configuration, which indeed can be more comfortable but feels no less substantial than a 737.

Haha, that sounds like something I would enjoy thoroughly while my wife is in the seat next to me wanting to die.

Thanks so much for all the responses!

Nicely put.

OP, I think you may be confusing the MD-80 with smaller regional jets like the CRJ-200 or -700 because they LOOK similar (all have T-tails and engines in the back) and it is difficult to gauge size from pictures alone. As others have pointed out the MD-80 is not a small regional jet, it can seat 130+ passengers, comparable to many 737 models.

If you sit towards the back of the MD-80, they may run out of Dutch rolls by the time meal service reaches your seat. (Thank you for making me Google Dutch roll, BTW... ;))

The Mad Dog is my favorite narrowbody to get an upgrade on: super silent ride up there. Even a decent seat assignment in the forward half of Y isn't too bad.

On routes where the MD still operates, you probably won't have a lot of widebody options, if any. As others have stated, it's a large-ish plane compared to the RJ's that now operate a lot of traditional MD-80 routes.

Once you get down into the various RJ's, you can certainly get a different experience on different types. For example, I quite like the bigger Embraers (170 and up) but would be perfectly happy if I never had to fly a 135 or 145 ever again.

If motion sickness is a factor, your wife should actively seek out services operated by MD-80 equipment. Why, you ask? Because the MD-80s have a very high wing loading, which translates directly into a much more comfortable ride in turbulent weather.

Never let prejudice get in the way of facts!

I have nothing of value to add to this thread beyond stating that I enjoy flying Y in MD-80s and find them comfortable (in relative terms of course).

Yikes! Remember, we are on the intarwebz... always let prejudice get in the way of facts and reality! ;)

The MD-family is my favorite type of narrow body plane.
In my case, it's mostly attributed to the 3-2 seating, and the wider seats (compared to Boeing products).

I try to avoid MD-80s due to their inherent design flaw with the jack screw. That being said, increased inspection and maintenance procedures has resulted in no major issues since 2000. For the OP's concern MD-80s are essentially the same size as the 737s. In terms of stability in turbulence, noise, ext, there are no reasons for choosing one over the other.

The jack screw failure on AS261 was (A) a result of faulty maintenance procedures and (B) a one-time event. You might as well avoid all 737s because of their never-explained uncontrolled rudder incidents, associated with multiple fatal crashes (UA585, US427, etc.).

Yes I remember my first ride on DC9. I was in seat A of the last row on a Reno Air flight back in the 90s. Loud as hell.

And (C) "Also contributing to the accident was the absence on the McDonnell Douglas MD-80 of a fail-safe mechanism to prevent the catastrophic effects of total acme nut thread loss." (source:https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/...y/AAR0201.html)

The lack of a fail-safe on a primary control system is an inherent design flaw that was determined to be too expensive to fix/redesign. As I also mentioned, new maintenance and inspections have prevented other incidents.

As for the 737 rudders, I believe the system was redesigned and all planes in use have been retrofitted since 2008. In addition, Boeing installed a limiter on the rudder in the event of preventing a catastrophic event in the case of ANY rudder incident. THIS is failsafe and that is that is what they are for.

Deleted, previous poster put in much better.

You must not be very experienced. At cruise speed, I find the MD-80 in first class to be about the noisiest jet airliner around.

Sure, it's quiet on the takeoff roll but once you're above 10,000 ft and 250 KIAS that slipstream noise becomes loud, loud, LOUD.

Noise notwithstanding, on that I agree. In coach, I would much rather be on an MD-80 than 737. 2-3 in slightly wider seats beats 3-3 every time.

And intriguingly buggy logic in some 737NG systems like the logic that has the autothrottles retard thrust when one of the radio altimeters indicates at or below 0 AGL.

That was one of the contributing factors in the THY crash short of the runway at AMS/EHAM. Failed RA causes negative AGL indication, thrust levers brought back to idle by the autothrottles, clueless pilots fly on for over a minute not realizing they were at idle and getting progressively lower than the glideslope, airplane lands in field way short of runway.

An AA 738 shooting an approach into MIA had an almost identical scenario within +/- a couple weeks of the THY accident at AMS. The good news is that the pilots flying that airplane immediately recognized the uncommanded rollback, disconnected the autopilot, advanced the throttles and hand flew a go around and subsequent completely normal, uneventful landing.

the last few rows of an md80 are so noisy, i wonder why osha does not shut them down.

If flying an AA MD-80, you have a 50% chance of delayed at the gate due to maintenance items "pending sign off"

PSA's M80s had a "family" section (iirc just forward of the overwing exits) with an aft-facing row of seats ... takeoff was really interesting from those seats because a lightly-loaded MadDog climbs like a rocket

:rolleyes: Above is wild exaggeration. :td:

I fly on tons of AA MD-80s as well as plenty of other types operated by AA, DL, MQ, OO... I also track all my flights.

There is no airline/equipment type in my experience that jumps out as having a disproportionate number of delays.

I've had mechanical delays on AA MD-80s... at about the same rate as I have had mechanical delays on other types and other airlines.

I spend many, many hours on AA Mad Dogs, and while I have experienced all kinds of delays (oh hello, terrible weather in Dallas!), maintenance sign-off is not a bigger issue on the MD80 than anywhere else.

What airline flies MD-80s that actually has meal service on those flights?

In any case, on those rare flights I should think you'd be glad to not have any Dutch rolls. My stomach would vastly prefer a Danish or a Croissant instead.

I would assume the age, flight hours and number of takeoff/landing cycles for any aircraft is what correlates with the amount of maintenance required, far more than which type of plane it is, among any of the current commercial aircraft being flown. If one type of aircraft was an outlier in this regard, it would soon be phased out of service and nobody would buy them.

I am susceptible to motion sickness as well and I think the MD-80 is fine. The wild card is the weather/air as you can experience motion sickness on any size plane, but bigger is better (I have had a very few bad rides on 767's and 777's). Take some Bonine the day of the trip. It does not make you as drowsy as Dramamine. The bracelets are worthless (IMHO).

The MD-80's are a lot more quiet in my experience. By the way, Mythbusters did find ginger to be effective against flight sickness. If she doesn't like small planes though, might be easier to book on a bigger one. Not that many MD-80's around.

Bonine (meclizine), aka Dramamine II, knocks me out in a few minutes. YMMV :)

My wife has never been troubled by the severe motion sickness she used to suffer since she got a Relief Band. We got one with a replaceable battery, which is unfortunately no longer available. Relief Bands are registered medical devices which work very well for many people. I've loaned it to a colleague whose wife also suffers, and it worked perfectly for her, too. Two out of two successes in my not-so-vast experience!

MD-80 is small? Naah, an Embraer Brasilia EMB-120, Pilatus PC-12 or a Beech 19 is small. Since the wing loading, max take-off weight, # of passengers etc. are pretty comparable between the MD-80 and the 737 (and both have a lot of variants) the ride will be about the same. My advise would be to travel early in the day when the bumps will be less, give her a 1/2 a Valium and enjoy the ride.