In time you will love the old girl.................
I had about a dozen years in the MD80, 4 in the right and 8 in the left seat.
The yoke is connected to trim tabs on the ailerons and elevators, not the aileron or elevator itself (except deep stall pusher recovery). On the ground during your preflight if you deflect one aileron up, the opposite aileron will deflect down as they are tied together. However the yoke in the cockpit will not move. Because you are moving trim tabs, not the flight control surfaces themselves the airplane will feel sluggish and heavy at approach speeds.
Because the airplane has so many cables connecting the various flight control surfaces they all age, stretch and wear at different rates. Consequently you could have two MD80s sitting next to each other on the line, built within months of each other with similar time on the airframes and they will “feel” different to fly.
The only powered control surface is the rudder. A total loss of hydraulics on this airplane is not that big of a deal-flight controls are all manually operated through cables, and the rudder has a manual override. I thought the “mechanical interconnection” between the two independent hydraulic systems was brilliant (funny I can’t remember the proper name of this system anymore).
Solid airframe flies well! The MD80 is old technology and cannot compete with modern engines and better designed wings-this jet goes back decades. The auto-throttles work well, but the engines do not spool up quickly or evenly. Be aware of that on both takeoff and landing using reverse thrust-they spool up differently and are not even.
Synchronizing the engines will prove to be a challenge, as will getting a great landing. Anybody who tells you they have the landings all figured out and always roll the jet on I would be suspicious of. The wheels are far behind you, the T tail comes down into ground effect……..there is a lot going on.
I thoroughly enjoyed my time on the MD80. I miss the old girl and am grateful for my dozen years on the jet. In time you will develop a “feel” for the jet, when you do then you are home. Have fun!!