Originally Posted by
Flightrider
If ever an aircraft, a runway and a route were an ill-suited mix, the DC9 on Leeds-Tenerife was right up there.
The DC9-34 was a further enhancement of the DC9-30 series for greater MTOW. Not many were ordered and I think Aviaco was the principal purchaser, and may even have initiated the development, principally for routes from The Canaries to Northern European points. It basically was a beefing up of structure and gear, to allow more fuel on a high density configuration. It also had a 1 degree twist of wing incidence to enhance cruise economy, which inevitably had a downside on low speed runway performance. It would be OK off a Heathrow length runway. Douglas never seemed to have it together with their aerodynamics, the DC8 in particular had multiple goes at reworks of the wing, and the trend went right through to the reduced stab of the MD-11 of course.