Beyond looking at the tail number is there a way to tell? For example if you have a model with a particular tail number would the airline actually tell you which flight that plane will be on or is it more of a luck of the draw thing?

Forgive me, I am kind of new at this.

No worries. Sometimes, I have had the gate agent tell me, and sometimes they will not. Either way, I try to look at the registration placard in the inside of door 1, although the DC-9's with Delta have all been removed.

Tracking N671MC for the day
 

My morning started off in Kansas City for a segment run, and I saw DC-9-50 N671MC sitting at Gate 50 at MCI. The plane left to go to MEM. Lo and behold, the plane picked me up later in DTW for a connection to GRR. Spent four hours in GRR eating food and drinking beer with some nice folks before my return to MCI. The same DC-9 had gone back to DTW came back to GRR then took me to DTW again. My segment back to MCI is on the same DC-9. Tomorrow, the DC-9 will head back to MEM, but I have no idea whether or not the plane will continue on to ATL or DTW. I just thought I would share a good bit of information on the day in the life of a Diesel 9.;)

My DC-9 segment runs today were part of an MCI-BNA segment run. I was on N780NC in first and N766NC in coach. Still, not a bad flight because it is a short hop to ATL from BNA. From my calculations, it appears that out of the 34 DC-9-50 aircraft that Northwest operated and transferred to Delta, I have been on 25 of them. I have been able to get the registrations off of every DC-9-50 I have been on. Wish I could say that about the rest of the aircraft I have been on.

I have booked myself another segment run that includes DC-9's from ATL to DAY. I am going to try to remember to take my camera with me and include some DC-9 shots if I can. These flights will take me to Dayton for the very first time, even though I have visited Ohio on a couple of occassions.

Unfortunately, my camera decided not to work, so no photos. Will try again on my next DC-9 segments in July going to Pensacola.

DL DC-9's that are still active
 

After looking at the site planespotters.net, I have found that there are 20 DC-9-50's that are still active with DL. Here is the list:

N401EA (saw this aircraft yesterday in DTW)
N600TR
N671MC
N675MC (also at DTW yesterday)
N676MC
N762NC
N764NC
N766NC
N767NC
N770NC
N773NC
N774NC
N775NC
N777NC
N779NC
N780NC
N782NC (also in DTW yesterday)
N784NC
N786NC
N787NC (the 1:200 scale model that I have in DL colours and the aircraft that I had just one ride on as opposed to the several flights I have had on the rest of the fleet).

7-17-12
 

Because of the date, I should have been flying a Boeing 717, but I was on the DC-9-50 again and the 757, and wouldn't you know it, I forgot my camera at home and did not realise it until I was at the airport, a good forty miles one way from my house.

I was on the following aircraft for the following DL segments:
MCI-ATL 757 N673DL
ATL-PNS D95 N787NC (the one I would have liked to have pictures of, being that was my second to last DC-9 flight, as this aircraft was the second to last DC-9 made)
PNS-ATL D95 N766NC
ATL-MCI 757 N685DA

I was happy with my segment run. I was able to get a good massage in Concourse A in ATL before I boarded N787NC. I was in first with my cup of tea and plenty of Biscoff to go with it.

The weather in ATL, of course, went sour. But, I was only delayed about 90 minutes, which was not as bad as other delayes or layovers I have had in past. I am just glad I was able to make it back to MCI last night, instead of today, where most of the east coast has had ground stops.