McDonnell Douglas C-9

what is it?

The McDonnell Douglas C-9 is a retired military version of the McDonnell Douglas DC-9 airliner. It was produced as the C-9A Nightingale for the United States Air Force, and the C-9B Skytrain II for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. The final flight of the C-9A Nightingale was in September 2005, and the C-9C was retired in September 2011.

🔎How to recognise it: 2 jet engines · 28.5 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 926 km/htop speed
• range 4,667 kmwithout refuelling
• seats 76passengers
• size 49.9 tmax take-off weight
• built 48made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🏎️Top speed is 7.1× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 🚗Wingspan of 28.5 m: about 6 cars parked nose to tail.
• 🐘Fully loaded it can weigh as much as 8 African elephants (~6 t each).
• 🌍Range of 4,667 km: 26× Amsterdam to Brussels.
• 🏔️Can fly 1.3× higher than Mount Everest (8,849 m).

jet: Gas turbine pushing air out the back (turbofan or turbojet): fast and high-flying.

spec sheet

first flight

—

introduced

1968

retired

2017

status

retired

number built

48

role

military transport aircraft

origin

🇺🇸 United States

makers

McDonnell Douglas

engines

2× Pratt & Whitney JT8D-9

crew

5

passengers

76

length

36.4 m

wingspan

28.5 m

height

8.4 m

max take-off weight

49.9 t

top speed

926 km/h

cruise speed

898 km/h

range

4,667 km

ceiling

11,278 m

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.