On August 25th, American Airlines retired their Airbus A300 aircraft from service, and they will be stored in Roswell, New Mexico. There are still 2-4 airplanes still around, and will be ferried to Roswell in the next few days.
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American Airlines :(
- Thread starter Quad 2.5 G5 =)
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Me too. Despite STL being a "hub" for AA (I use the term loosely since we have no international service and not too many domestic routes) all they fly here are the MD-80s and regional jets. A 757 comes through every now and then, but that's it. I hate flying AA because of that. I don't expect them to bring 777s through here or anything, but a 737 would be nice.
Yes, I am, they are one of my favorite planes made. (An odd combination, macs and planes) These planes were somewhat reliable, and had a variety of names, Repairbus, scarebus... (It had technical issues, and things went bang, bump, and crash in flight.)
They have 280+ of those, and they won't be all gone before at least 2025.
If you want a real "deathtrap", fly a Northwest Airlines DC-9, the oldest one is 40+ years old, but still going strong.
The A300 is actually an older airframe than the MD-80. It makes economic sense to retire the planes you have the fewest of. The MD-80 isn't a bad plane. American, however, is a bad airline. It has poor QC of maintenance,and has done a poor job at modernizing its fleet.
True, it would be like if you had 10 PowerMac Quads, and retired them in favor of doing the same tasks on 20" iMacs, because of the massive "power consumption" of the PM G5s...the MD-80s would be the 280 Mac Mini's that you have. Keep in mind, though, that the A300 could take 270 passengers, a full load of cargo, (even bigger than 2 757s or possibly 767s) on 1 flight, and it was a blast to be on when it was empty. American isn't the best airline, and does have big issues, but is a 8/10 to fly on, but Southwest and Austrian airlines rank 11/10 in my book.
Attachments
WAY off. Hating a plane and that plane's actual accident stats are two VERY different things.
http://www.airsafe.com/events/accbymod.htm
http://www.planecrashinfo.com/cause.htm
http://www.airsafe.com/events/accbymod.htm
http://www.planecrashinfo.com/cause.htm
MD-80 is a workhorse. I do hate it, but at least you know the layout very well after a few flights. 
why is it so ironic they are heading to roswell, new mexico????
and why???? new mexico in roswell??? lol
and why???? new mexico in roswell??? lol
It isn't ironic, that is where AA stores their unused airplanes, as the planes does not rust there because of the lack of humidity.
There is also an aircraft boneyard in Tucson, Ariz.
http://googlesightseeing.com/2005/04/07/boneyard-tucson-az/
http://googlesightseeing.com/2005/04/07/boneyard-tucson-az/
Yes, Tucson has one, Yuma,AZ, Mohave, CA, and Marana, AZ also have them.
Speaking of planes, I found out that my flights have in-flight internet, so I will have fun on here. (Dallas-Chicago-Phoenix, yes, I know it is odd, but it is free)
no i meant roswell new mexico 1950's!, aliens and bodies, and an alien ship that crashed there!!!! lol
and people say "what ships?" lol
Every time I'm on one I somehow get stuck in the back by the engines and lavs
Yeah, that's kind of the roll of the dice with the MD-80. And they're getting old enough that the sync for the fans rarely works, making it that much worse.
But I still love the MD-80. Would have been nice to have flown one.
Keeping it simple - if the RPM of the two engines isn't exactly matched, the slight difference in frequencies will create beats - kind of a 'wah wah wah' sound that's especially noticeable way in the back (where your head is essentially sitting between the two engines).
Like I said before, I've never flown an MD-80, but every jet I've ever been around has a sync function that'll match the RPMs, and thus minimize the beats. And in my experience, the older the airplane, the less well that sync function tends to work.
Like I said before, I've never flown an MD-80, but every jet I've ever been around has a sync function that'll match the RPMs, and thus minimize the beats. And in my experience, the older the airplane, the less well that sync function tends to work.
Maybe this is going to sound like a dumb question, but why does the MD-80 have a particularly "bad reputation"? I know they've had their fair share of problems, in particular the crash of the Alaska Airlines flight off the coast of California. I suppose the "deathtrap" comment above inspired me to ask.
Is its record all that much worse than say the 737? Both planes have had some "high profile" incidents and are widely used.
Is its record all that much worse than say the 737? Both planes have had some "high profile" incidents and are widely used.
Keeping it simple - if the RPM of the two engines isn't exactly matched, the slight difference in frequencies will create beats - kind of a 'wah wah wah' sound that's especially noticeable way in the back (where your head is essentially sitting between the two engines).
Like I said before, I've never flown an MD-80, but every jet I've ever been around has a sync function that'll match the RPMs, and thus minimize the beats. And in my experience, the older the airplane, the less well that sync function tends to work.
I have never heard of this (pun not intended), and I will have to listen for this synchronization function when I am on an MD-83 tomorrow.
Perhaps I'm odd, but I love the buzz-saw sound of the MD's P&W JT8Ds. I also like the GE TF39, CF6, and PW4000, to name a few. Nothing like that deep, throaty growl of raw power.
Actually, it's exceptionally good, although the planes are getting old and there have been some more high-profile cock-ups in the past years.
I've heard the sync problem before on them... it can be pretty nasty.
What I kind of wonder about is...are there ever going to be new, better plane designs in the rough size class of the MD80/xx, the A300s, and the 737? I mean, more than light refreshes? It seems like now both Boeing and Airbus are talking a lot about gigantic flying casino boats now.... but the reality is that most of us spend most of our time flying in these smaller planes.