Airliners I’ve Flown or Want to Fly

I like airplanes.

This is just a useless page documenting the types of airplanes that I have flown on, and the types of airplanes that I hope to fly on one day.

Boeing 737 Family

Boeing 737-200 Advanced (Aloha Airlines)

The Boeing 737-200 first flew in 1967; by the time I first flew one, the type was over 20 years old. It definitely didn’t make it any less impressive; these older airliners have a lot of character!

Not to mention that they’re very LOUD. Both outside and within the cabin. Even though modern liners aren’t exactly soft, I will always remember how loud you needed to speak in order to talk to the person right next to you in flight!

Aloha Airlines Boeing 737-200
I flew an Aloha Airlines Boeing 737-200 Advanced, similar to this one, either to or from the Big Island, circa 1993 or 1994. Photo by Clint Groves, used under the GFDL license.
Aloha Airlines Boeing 737-200 with "bird of paradise" livery
I flew Aloha Airlines Boeing 737-200 Advanced aircraft with the “Bird of Paradise” livery in 2008, from Honolulu to Hilo and back again.  Photo by Aero Icarus, used under a CC-attribution-share-alike license.   There is a great shot of the cabin and a great shot of the flight deck of one of these airplanes by Je89_w on Airliners.net!

The best part of the plane, though, are the clamshell thrust reversers on the JT8D. By virtue of having wing-mounted engines (in comparison to the tail-mounted JTDD’s on the DC-9 and Boeing 727 families), one sitting over or immediately behind the wing in a window seat has a front-row seat to the thrust reversers in action. In fact, I have a video of exactly that on an Aloha Airlines 737-200 (taken by my friend Faye on an camcorder) that I hope to upload here one day.

Until then, here is a video of the thrust reversers of a Boeing 737-200 in Canada blowing up a ton of snow:

Other Boeing 737s

Aside from Aloha’s old Boeing 737-200s, I’ve also flown on a Delta Airlines Boeing 737-900ER.

DC-9 Family

(McDonnell) Douglas DC-9 – Hawaiian Airlines

The McDonnell Douglas DC-9 (originally called the Douglas DC-9) was developed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. The DC-9 and its derivatives were the primary rival to the Boeing 737 for the first quarter century after its introduction.

Hawaiian Airlines DC-9
Hawaiian Airlines DC-9. Photo by Ken Fielding.

(Will add more here soon.)

McDonnell Douglas MD-87 (Delta Airlines)

I was lucky enough to catch a flight on a Delta Airlines MD-87 from Philadelphia to Atlanta in fall 2018. I’ll add more about that experience soon!

Boeing 717-200 – Hawaiian Airlines, Delta Airlines

(Will add more here soon.)

Boeing 767 Family

Boeing 767-300 (Hawaiian Airlines)

On my way back from California in 2017, I specifically booked a flight from San Jose Airport so I could catch a Hawaiian Boeing 767, which was becoming much more elusive at the time. In this case, I caught what I think was the airline’s last non-ER 767-300. I’ll add more about that experience soon.

Air Canada: Boeing 767

(Will add more here soon.)

Delta Airlines: Boeing 767-400ER

I caught a Boeing 767-400ER to and from Atlanta in fall 2018. Will discuss more in a future blog post.

Other Airliners I’ve Flown

Here’s a list of other airliners I’ve flown. If time permits, I may try to add more context to this list:

  • McDonnell Douglas DC-10 – Hawaiian Airlines and Northwest Airlines
  • de Havilland Dash 8-100 – Island Air
  • Boeing 757 – Northwest Airlines
  • Airbus A321 – American Airlines, JetBlue, and Virgin America
  • Airbus A330 – Hawaiian Airlines

Airliners I Want to Fly On

  • McDonnell Douglas MD-11
  • Boeing 727
  • Boeing 747-400 or 8i
  • McDonnell Douglas MD-90