MD-80 landings
 

For the past 6 months I've been commuting to DFW for my lowly regional job. In that time I've flown on the Super 80 countless times and I can really honestly say I have never had a bad landing riding on it. Not only that but the maddog pilots roll that thing on like nobody's business. Ive heard its a hard airplane to get a greaser out of but these guys and gals make it look easy. Is it that the folks flying it now are just very senior on it now that it's near its end and some of chosen to truly stick with it all this time or what's the secret sauce? What's the technique for landing it?

Thanks for indulging me. I'm a real MD-80 fan boy nerd. :rolleyes:

There are several techniques but the most common is to leave a smidge of power on and wipe it as you touch down.

Most of the CAs left have been on it most of their careers, FOs vary between a year and a decade-ish.

It's a pretty easy airplane to fly and land honestly. At least most of the time. If you leave the autothrottle on during landing it can get pitchy as the nose hunts so most turn it off.

I m in the same boat as the OP.
I have JS on it plenty of time in the last 10 years and you guys really make it look easy. Also always friendly crews.

Yeah AA pilots have always treated me super well. Very classy laid back group of professionals that I really enjoy being around. :cool:

Don't worry, I've been known to bang it on occasionally.

Not that it's going to matter that much longer, but when the situation allowed, I used to cross control it in the flare so as to touch one main first. I tended to prefer the right one. But even so, I still reduced the field elevation occasionally. :D

Fly it like a cub...

Meanwhile every time I'm on a Delta 767, they slam it on. :D