Delta Retires Last DC 9

[swiftus27]

From CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/06/travel/delta-dc-9/

Nearly half a century after it became the first U.S. airline to fly twin-engine DC-9s, Delta Air Lines retired the last of those venerable airliners from its commercial service Monday.

The final round trip bore the designation Delta 1965 -- the first year the model entered service -- on its way from Atlanta to Minneapolis, and Delta 2014 on the return flight. Delta was the last major U.S. carrier to fly the DC-9, the company said.

Delta had retired its original DC-9s in 1993, but acquired others in its merger with Northwest Airlines in 2008, the company said.

McDonnell-Douglas, which merged with Boeing in 1997, built the last of the T-tail aircraft in 1982. The DC-9 has been replaced by similar-looking successor models such as the MD-88 and Boeing 717 since then.

[lunchbox]

I wonder if that was tail number N787NC, It was parked to the next gate to me in ATL on Saturday evening  .  I wish I would have snapped a pic, but my phone died and my wife already turned her phone off and stowed it away.  I also have to admit that I really enjoyed flying on the MadDog 80/90 this past week  .

[swiftus27]

I believe the MD80 still flies.... it's the Dc9 that is finished.

[lunchbox]

Yeah, that's what I was saying, I think I saw the DC-9 parked next to me, I was just going off topic about the MD80's lol

[Slurve30]

I wonder if that was tail number N787NC, It was parked to the next gate to me in ATL on Saturday evening  .  I wish I would have snapped a pic, but my phone died and my wife already turned her phone off and stowed it away.  I also have to admit that I really enjoyed flying on the MadDog 80/90 this past week  .

It was N773NC, operating as flight 2014 from MSP to ATL.

[lunchbox]

That's funny, I just checked flight aware and tail number N787NC, a DC95 is still flying, just completing a flight between SDF  and ATL . 

[schro]

The 1/6 "retirement" was not the last flight as advertised by Delta (though over a dozen frames did their last revenue flight that day). Two frames kept going, N779NC and N782NC, filling in for the late 717-200 arrivals. The last official revenue flight was VPS-ATL last night on N779NC.

I managed to get 26 rides in on DC95's in the past 3 years and they were a real treat to ride on - something about getting a nice waft of diesel when you get onboard makes the experience complete. My final (and was to be 27th ride) was stolen by N525US breaking down in PHL and causing me to miss my connection (it apparently needed more coffee to power on for a 6AM flight).

JetWestInc snapped this picture of N779NC on 1/9/14 at KCLE.

[schro]

It seems that N779NC was saved from the scrapper and will live on in CLT.
http://www.carolinasaviation.org/coming-up

[tcrlaf]

Frankly, they would have been gone years ago, but for a nearly-bankrupt Northwest realizing that they had 30 years worth of parts for them sitting in the desert, already paid for. They were all a broke NW had that could provide needed F/C service to smaller cities like SBN or ATW. (They had tried Avro-85's/ BAE-146's under Mesaba as replacements, but the they couldn't make them work. (SCOPE'd out at 69 seats max, which made them too expensive to fly with 4 holes.)) A lot of their corp. contracts required F service. That is why they kept the DC9-10's around so long.

[lunchbox]

It seems that N779NC was saved from the scrapper and will live on in CLT.
http://www.carolinasaviation.org/coming-up

That's pretty neat, glad we get to save some of passenger air travel history