Interesting Delta flight, MD88

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Cincinnati, OH and Port Charlotte, FL
So, we flew CVG-TPA last week on Delta...row 30 on the way down was loud, I was dreading row 35 on the way home (Last full row of 5 seats, right next to the engine). I was bemused to look out the window and see 3 screws dancing around in their aperatures on the inside of the cowling...there were probably 60 others holding the engine cowling in place, many painted over, but these 3 were clearly loose. Not something you expect to see, or want to see while climbing out over the Gulf of Mexico. I took a short video but it was too large to send to my email so I couldn't attach it.

I'll miss the old Mad Dogs when they're gone, even ordered a couple of t-shirts that arrived while we were on the trip...

 
Many years ago I flew on a MD of Alaska airlines while on military orders. I do remember the noise, it was deafening.

Seeing loose screws anywhere on a aircraft would make me nervous.
 
There is at least some speculation that the Concord's crash was caused by a part that fell off of a prior departure. That titanium part was supposedly incorrectly installed by Continental maintenance personnel.

Unfortunately, parts fall off of aircraft with some regularity. We pick them up at the local airport quite often. I almost did it too! I closed the door with a spare headset dangling out. Good thing I caught it.
 
And to think I was irritated by the nail I got in my car tire recently (building a house in a new subdivision and I guess that's just one of those things).

I've seen/read several post-mortems on the Concorde crash and it would appear that all sorts of things went awry that day. The chunk that fell off the Continental plane, landing gear issues/wobble, overweight, center of gravity perhaps too far back, all sorts of things converged.
 
What does the t-shirt graphic depict?
And why not call these things what they are: stretched DC-9's, not "MD"-whatevers. Lets get real about that.

Wait, is that the t-tail with one side cranked?
 
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Originally Posted By: CincyDavid
So, we flew CVG-TPA last week on Delta...row 30 on the way down was loud, I was dreading row 35 on the way home (Last full row of 5 seats, right next to the engine). I was bemused to look out the window and see 3 screws dancing around in their aperatures on the inside of the cowling...there were probably 60 others holding the engine cowling in place, many painted over, but these 3 were clearly loose. Not something you expect to see, or want to see while climbing out over the Gulf of Mexico. I took a short video but it was too large to send to my email so I couldn't attach it.

If that was what you saw then you should have reported it to the flight attendant. There's no excuse for that, it has nothing to do with the age of the airplane but everything to do with inadequate maintenance. I worked for an airline that flew some of the oldest A6WE airplanes in existence and there would not have been three loose fasteners on the engine cowling, period.

And when you say "inside the cowling", what do you mean exactly? In the engine inlet? I'm thinking you mean somewhere else, there aren't Dzus fasteners in the inlet anywhere.
 
If it was on the outside of the intake Id be less worried, but anything metal getting ingested would not end up well.
 
Originally Posted By: CincyDavid
It's looking at the t-tail from in front of the plane...

Looks like its differential, at least at zero airspeed. !! I remember they were floating types, jackscrew AOA actuation.
 
Nothing like sitting next to the big engine with the shaft full of knife like blades spinning several thousand RPM just a foot away...
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The MD-88 was constructed when dinos roamed the earth, so a few loose screws is maybe not the worst of it....
One letter to Delta, & a copy sent to the FAA should do it.
 
Originally Posted By: oil_film_movies
What does the t-shirt graphic depict?
And why not call these things what they are: stretched DC-9's, not "MD"-whatevers. Lets get real about that.

Wait, is that the t-tail with one side cranked?


"Mad-Dog" is the nickname for the MD-88/90 series of airplanes at Delta. Pilots use it. FA's use it. Technicians use it.

So, Mad-Dog it is...

And the t-shirt depicts the unique floating T-tail of the "MD"...
 
My job at Yokota AB Japan was Quality Control Inspector... I would say
hi, I'm your friendly quality control inspector. I am the direct
representative for the Deputy Commander of Maintenance. If you
performed your duties in accordance to the 9,999 prescribe directives
you have nothing to fear. If you have not, its my obligation to tear
your arse up. OK who forgot to check those screws???
 
Originally Posted By: bdcardinal
I love that shirt, I see it advertised on Facebook a lot along with the "dial 121.5 for a good time" shirts.


The vendor I bought them from also sells one pertaining to Hudson River Rafting Tours with a pic of the Airbus floating in the Hudson with rafts around it. Cool story about the vendor though, they advertise "fitted" shirts only, for scrawny young people, in a poly-cotton blend which I also don't care for. I emailed them and asked if they would be game for making a couple of 100% cotton 3x shirts for a fat boy, not really expecting a response. They responded the same day, and were very accommodating...I got my fat boy shirts quickly.

https://www.autopilotandchill.com/products/save-the-mad-dogs-premium-t-shirt
 
They have a Facebook page, ATC memes, and they are absolutely ruthless in making fun of Embry Riddle University. I laugh so hard because everyone I knew from Civil Air Patrol that went to ERAU fit the mold perfectly.
 
Probably a Spartan grad who thinks missing screws are part of the design since all that "live equipment(been dead for twenty five years) Spartan used to use in advertisements had missing screws and even parts. You didn't really disassemble a component, just give it a good rap and it would self destruct. A few years ago the school reinvented itself and nows it,s a "college."
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