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Home > Product Information: The MD-83
The MD-83: The Long Haul Heavyweight
Jet City Aircraft is pleased to present our newest aircraft in the Jet City Collections
product suite, the McDonnell Douglas MD-80 and MD-90. This page details information about
the MD-83.
For those of you unfamiliar with these McDonnell Douglas twinjets, we have included some information about the aircraft that will be of interest.
The information is provided courtesy of The Boeing Company, who absorbed McDonnell Douglas into its operations in 1997.
Although the aircraft is now officially titled the Boeing MD-80, we at Jet City Aircraft have decided to use the
McDonnell Douglas MD-80 title as this company was responsible for
the original design of the aircraft.
The MD-80 Family
The MD-80, a quiet, fuel-efficient twinjet, was certified by the Federal Aviation Administration in August 1980 and entered airline service in October 1980. Its Pratt & Whitney JT8D-200 engines, combined with its efficient aerodynamic design, allow the MD-80 to meet all current noise regulations while producing operating costs among the lowest in commercial aviation.
Four MD-80 models - the MD-81, MD-82, MD-83, and MD-88, are 147 feet, 10 inches (45.08 meters) long and accommodate a maximum of 172 passengers. The MD-87 is 130.4 feet (39.76 m) in length, with a maximum passenger capacity of 139. Wingspan for all models is 107 feet, 10 inches (32.88 m). The MD-80 was produced at the Long Beach Division of Boeing Commercial Airplanes until December 1999.
The MD-80's nonstop range is from 1,500 to 2,700 statute miles (2,410 to 4,345 kilometers), depending on the model. The MD-81's maximum takeoff weight is 140,000 pounds (63,503 kg); the MD-82's and the MD-88's are 149,500 pounds (67,812 kg). The longer range MD-83 has a takeoff weight of 160,000 pounds (72,575 kg). The MD-87's maximum takeoff gross weight is 140,000 pounds (63,503 kg), with an option to 149,500 pounds (67,812 kg).
Operators range from the largest foreign and domestic trunk carriers to new startup airlines and charter operators. Swissair and Austrian Airlines began the first service, while American Airlines operates the largest number of MD-80s, a fleet of 275. In addition, 35 MD-80 airplanes were assembled and are operating in the People's Republic of China.
(The above information was provided courtesy of The Boeing Company)
About the Jet City Aircraft MD-83
For this project, we have meticulously recreated the McDonnell Douglas MD-83. All aircraft feature customized visual details
and flight dynamics specific to each model and variant, along with individual options on each aircraft as specified by the original
delivery airline.
The airplanes are accurately modeled in shape and scale, and uses all of the advanced features that
today's design tools have to offer,
including full animation, dynamic shine, and reflective textures. Great care was taken to make best use of display resources
to ensure that the frame rate hit remains minimal. In simple terms, this airplane is full of detail and is an amazing replica
of the real aircraft.
And speaking of detail, unlike some other designers which attempt to "wow" potential customers with a lot of descriptions
of useless things like cardian lugs, torque flanges, and track rollers, we'll take the less dramatic approach and tell you
what you really want to know about our planes. You know, the stuff that matters.
Aircraft Visual Details
Click on the hyperlinks below to view images of the Jet City Aircraft MD-83.
All screen shots have been converted to jpeg format to allow for fast loading, so please be aware that the image quality will not be
as high as what you will see in the flight simulator. None of the aircraft images on our web site have been
altered, edited, or otherwise tampered with in order to falsely depict the product. Enjoy the previews!
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Check out our high-resolution image gallery to enjoy the spectacular details on this aircraft. These images are quite large (over 1200 pixels wide) and will
open in a new browser window.
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Flight Dynamics
By now you know that the MD-83 looks good and is full of awesome features, but how well does it fly?
Even the best flight dynamics designers will tell you that it is impossible to
create 100% accurate flight dynamics for Flight Simulator, but you can get
things pretty close. We believe that you'll find the flying characteristics of
our MD-83 to be quite acceptable. Our beta testers, including an active MD-80
pilot, all had good things to say about the airplane.
Ground handling has been significantly improved over over our previous models,
and the aircraft is quite stable in the air and is very easy to hand fly. The
aircraft's range is very close to their real counterparts.
Like most other T-tailed, rear-engine aircraft, the MD-80 has the ability to push back from a gate without the use of a tug.
The process is called a “Powerback” and it uses reverse thrust to move the plane backwards. The process is not approved at all
airports, but you do have the option to powerback in the simulator as our MD-80 has that capability.
The MD-83, while challenging to pilot due to its long fuselage and small wings, is a wonderful airplane to fly, either by autopilot or manually,
and we're confident that you'll enjoy flying it.
Instrument Panel and Aircraft Sounds
The Jet City MD-83 aircraft do not include a custom instrument panel or aircraft
sounds. When you install the aircraft, it uses the default 737 panel and sounds
that are included with the simulator. Of course, you are in no way limited to
using that configuration, as other options, both commercial and freeware, are
available.
Other Details
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Fully compatible with Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004: A Century of Flight and Microsoft Flight Simulator 2002 |
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The main passenger door and main passenger air stairs are opened using separate commands, so you can use jetways or
non-jetway gates realistically |
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Integrates easily with your choice of instrument panels and sounds |
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All repaints are assigned to the correct aircraft variant, and as such, may or may not include all of the features mentioned
above, depending on that particular aircraft's configuration. |
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We allow third party repaints of our aircraft, so long as repainters adhere to our repaint policy which can be found
in the Repainter Support area at the Jet City Forums. |
What's Included
Jet City Collections: The MD-80 and MD-90 contains the following MD-83 aircraft and operators:
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MD-83 |
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MD-83 |
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Additional liveries are available to download for free. Simply visit the MD-83
Product Support page to see
what's currently available.
System Requirements
 
Our aircraft should run fine on any system capable of running
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004: A Century of Flight or Microsoft Flight Simulator 2002. As with any add-on for flight simulation, the more powerful your CPU and video card,
the better performance you will receive. Frame rates with our aircraft are comparable to other high-detail add-on aircraft.
Download and Purchase
The MD-83 is included in the MD-80 and MD-90 package and is available for download and purchase
today! To get your copy of this comprehensive package, please select "Buy and Fly"
in the navigation bar at the top of this page, or
click here to go there now!
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