Flight test video MD-80

[golf1411]

Watch this video of an MD-80 flight test. Very spectacular. 8O

http://www.airdisaster.com/movies/

[vliegtuigfreak]

Indeed very spectacular. Whats happening with the tail?? Seems there is a lot of work to do on that MD-80!!

Greetingzz
Sonny

[Avro]

Indeed it's spectacular. 8O

Whats happening with the tail??

Well it seems they made a lot of wrong calculations when building the body. If you look closely you'll see that the fuselage is also cracking at various points.

InN addition to that I think that the pilot made a very hard landing. Maybe it was the purpuse,

Chris

[A318]

Woooowwwwww, I hope nobody was in the toilet in that tail!
Amazing, thank god it was with a test flight.

Erwin

[sn26567]

Woooowwwwww, I hope nobody was in the toilet in that tail!

That is strictly forbidden !!!

[golf1411]

I don't think it was intended to happen.

Nobody died, but there is a chance they had to look for a new job.

Maybe test pilot for Aeroflot? They are good at such things

[Comet]

That is horrendous! I had always regarded the MD80 as a very fine aircraft.

[L-1011]

Don't forget that this was a test flight and that on this particular flight they were testing hard landings. The comment on airdisaters.com says:

A McDonnell Douglas MD-80, on a test flight in 1982, crashes on landing at Edwards Air Force Base in California after landing with a high rate of descent. None of the 7 aboard were killed.

I suppose they reviewed their prcedures and perhaps strengthened the design after this "failure"

ciao,
TriStar

[Avro]

Well I hope that they've improved the structure, because such landings happen in real live

Chris

[upperclass]

As we all know... what kills is not the speed of landing, it is the force you land on the ground... check National Geographic crash landing programme... Vertical speed is much more dangerous than horizontal speed...

Good luck with your next landings

[Goosekat]

Ok guys here is the story.

The aircraft involved in this incident is ship 909. It is the first DC9- Super 80 flight test aircraft. The crash was not intetnional but was a result of flight testing close to limits. The incident occured at Edwards AFB. The aircraft was in minimum crew configuration, pilot, copilot, and flight test engineer. The test was landing performance. Prior to the mid 80s, the FA allowed testing of the air distance portion of the landing field length required by and aircraft. Therefore, aircraft were tested at maximum descent rates so as to minimize the above mention value. In this case, the vertical speed indicator was not properly calibrated. This resulted in the aircraft descending at higher than required rate. The result of which is evident in the video. The flight crew were not aware of the break up of the aircraft and had started to accelerate the engine for takeoff, touch and go. The air field tower called them off. In any case the aircraft would not have rotated. Since the test was at EAFB, the aircraft would hve had continued down the runway to the dry lake bed.

Just to close, no one was hurt.

The aircraft was badly damaged.

Interestingly enough, just a short time latter, the second flight test aircraft, ship 913, ran off the run way in Yuma AZ, Douglas Fllight Teste Center, and seared its landing gear. Luckily, it did not sustain much damage. Unluckily, the crane that was lifting it broke and cut the aircraft in two. Parts of 913 were used to repair 909. Ship 909 was retained by Douglas as a dedicated flighte tets vehicle. It tested the propfan engine of the mid/late 80s, bot GE36 and PW-Allison PW578 DX. Eventually, the aircraft was repaired and sold to a South American customer.

[Avro]

Thanks for all those details Goosekat and welcome to luchtzak.

Chris