Originally Posted by
Graybeard
That MD-80, fus. 909, had less than 1,000 hours, and was still in Douglas Flight Test program when an FAA pilot made that great landing. One broken ankle was the only human casualty. A few years later, that plane was repaired and put back in flight test program, and later sold.
Just a minor correction here but #909, although repaired, was never delivered to any customer. Swissair, who had ordered it, refused to accept it and nobody else would take it either. McDD used it for test purposes for about 10 years, then by about 1990 it was no longer required and scrapped. #917 was also lost in the other testing accident described at around the same time. Douglas built another two replacement aircraft for Swissair.