The MD88 has been issued a Certificate of Airworthiness. Few know how that happened.


When you board the jet and observe the stand by instruments are back in a closet, with indications which are inverted, so as to look correct if viewed through two mirrors ... you will realize that Douglas is a little "different."


Flying it will teach you many of life's more pragmatic lessons. If you have are a Marine who has flown in combat, you will fit right in.


If you are not, welcome to post certification flight test, redesign and redevelopment. Your work writing NASA Reports, ASAP reports, UOR's, and Service Difficulty Reports will help define and refine the Emergency Bulletins, Special Airworthiness Bulletins, Airworthiness Directives, Service Bulletins, Operational Bulletins, Memos and Revisions which are helping to fix the aircraft's avionics, brakes, ground lift dumpers, compressor, electrical system, wings, software, hydraulic, fuel control unit, elevator, software, trim, high angle of attack and basic aerodynamics. You will learn by experience every characteristic of transonic flight ... perhaps on one flight if your Captain is a commuter with a tight connection. In a Boeing you confidently fly to the aircraft's certified limits. In a Douglas, you go until you get scared. The limitations were established by a German test pilot at 9am on his fourth cup of coffee and go pills. It hasn't come apart yet. Give yourself about 5,500 feet for recovery from entering a hold, or trying to top middle altitude stratus clouds, or flying through ice. If you've flown an F104 with a flap/slat failure ... you've got the right stuff. Approach speeds are best set at whatever speed gets your Captain complaining; less 1 knot.


With gratitude to your generation of MD drivers phase one of the aircraft's initial design is nearly complete. The challenges of doing this work while maintaining a schedule can not be over stated.


Our jet now has fences, kinks, chord extensions, fairings, changes in angle of incidence, tail anhedral, vents, dozens of strakes, vortilons, root extensions, tabs, three different stabilizer extensions, anti float tabs, fins, four different pylon fairings, five separate tip extensions, pylon elevators and hinge modifications ... and as long as we manually add 10 knots to the FMC hold speed, it won't stall and fall into a spin by hitting "execute."


Operators of the type are pleased that it's design does not lend itself to digital (ie accurate) means of data acquisition. Horizontal snap rolls in ground effect (ie crosswind landing) look crazy on a DFDAU.


Tip of the hat you, should you choose this challenging mission. God speed Sir, God Speed!