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SUPER 80 FIRST FLIGHT - The newest model of the McDonnell Douglas DC-9 - the Super 80 - lifts off runway Beach on its maiden flight. Twin jet will establish new standard fuel conservation and quietness when it enters airline service next year. Aircraft will be the quietest of any jet commercial operation and Its fuel consumption per passenger will be the lowest of any transport. Super 80 has a longer fuselage and greater wingspan than previous DC·9s and will carry up to 172 passengers. Ten customers have announced the selection of Super 80 McDonnell Douglas has received firm orders for 68 DC-9 Super 80s. plus conditional orders and options for 24 more. for a total of 92.
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DEBUGGING THE BUGS: Even with their anticipated great wingspans, powerful engines, sharp projectile-like bodies and Impressive fuel savings, futuristic aircraft are bound to run Into some “little problems” that have annoyed man and occupied airspace since the cave-dwelling days – bugs! “Bugs, in the atmosphere at the lower altitudes,” said Al Breslow, Chief Scientist for the NASA Aircraft Energy Efficiency Program at the Langley Research Center In Virginia, “will collide with the leading edges of aircraft. These bug accumulations upset the laminar flow and make it turbulent. ” Laminar flow is the natural streamlined layers of air that move over the surface of wings. When this smooth flow of air (particularly the boundary layer which is closest to the wing’s surface) becomes turbulent, “planes experience drag and therefore do not get the fuel savings”.
But, like most problems, it has a solution – thanks to the Lockheed-Georgia Company, and NASA. “But this solution will be a slippery one”.
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