McDonnell_Douglas_P-9

McDonnell Douglas MD-94X

McDonnell Douglas MD-94X

Proposal for a propfan-powered airliner

The McDonnell Douglas MD-94X was a planned propfan-powered airliner, intended to begin production in 1994. Announced in January 1986,[1] the aircraft was to seat between 160 and 180 passengers,[2] possibly using a twin-aisle configuration.[3] An all-new design that was investigated internally since at least 1984,[4] the MD-94X was developed in the mid-1980s to compete with the similar Boeing 7J7. The price of oil would have to be at least US$1.40 per gallon for McDonnell Douglas to build the plane, though.[5] Configuration was similar to the MD-80, but advanced technologies such as canard noseplanes,[6] laminar and turbulent boundary layer control, side-stick flight control (via fiber optics), and aluminum-lithium alloy construction were under consideration.[7] Airline interest in the brand-new propfan technology was weak despite claims of up to a 60% reduction in fuel use, and both aircraft were canceled.[citation needed]

Quick Facts MD-94X, Role ...

Under development at the same time were two propfan-powered commercial variants of the MD-80. The "MD-91X" would have seated 100-110 and entered service in 1991. The "MD-92X," a 150-seat aircraft targeted for service entry in 1992,[2] was originally to be a 76 in stretch (1.9 m) of the MD-80.[3] The price per engine would have been an estimated US$1.6 million dollars more for the propfans than for the MD-80's Pratt & Whitney JT8D-200 series engines.[8] Existing DC-9s and MD-80s would also have been eligible for an upgrade to the new propfan powerplants.[9] On May 19, 1987, McDonnell Douglas tested General Electric Aviation's unducted fan (UDF) engine in flight for the first time on an MD-80 demonstrator,[10] an aircraft that was restored after suffering an empennage separation in 1980 during the landing of a certification test flight for the DC-9 Super 80.[11]

A propfan-powered military variant of the MD-87 or MD-91X, called the P-9D, was also proposed as an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) aircraft. The P-9D was intended for use in the United States Navy's Long Range Air ASW-Capable Aircraft (LRAACA) program, which was to initially replace the existing fleet of 125 Lockheed P-3 Orion aircraft.[12] In October 1988, the Navy selected a derivative of the P-3 Orion (which was later renamed Lockheed P-7A) as the LRAACA aircraft over the P-9D.[13]

On October 10, 1989, McDonnell Douglas publicly announced that it was abandoning the development of propfan-powered aircraft, because of airline companies were concerned about the technology risk and cost compared to a conventionally-powered airliner.[14]

Specifications

A desktop scaled model of the proposed McDonnell Douglas MD-91 propfan airliner.
More information Airplane, MD-91X ...

See also

Related development

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era

References

  1. [1]
    Ramsden, J. M. (February 22, 1986). "Propfans—'the genie is out of the bottle'" (PDF). Air Transport. Flight International. Vol. 129, no. 3999. New Delhi, India. p. 8. ISSN 0015-3710. Retrieved May 17, 2019.
  2. [2]
    Haggerty, James J. (1987-08-01). "Toward future flight". Spinoff (PDF) (1987 ed.). NASA (published August 1987). pp. 30–33. hdl:2060/19880002195. OCLC 17914180. Archived from the original on April 12, 2009.
  3. [3]
    Kehe, R. N.; Morrison, Jr., H. F. (September 15–18, 1986). Cargo airlift: what's old? What's new?. International Forum for Air Cargo and International Air Cargo Exposition. SAE Technical Papers (13th ed.). Basel, Switzerland (published October 1986). doi:10.4271/861152. ISSN 0148-7191. JSTOR 44470563. OCLC 5818017739.
  4. [4]
    Hawley, Arthur V. (July 1993). Development of stitched/RTM primary structures for transport aircraft (Report). Vol. CR-191441. McDonnell Douglas Aerospace - Transport Aircraft. p. 13. hdl:2060/19950025000. OCLC 34053899 – via NASA.
  5. [5]
    Moll, Nigel (December 1986). "GA strong at Farnborough". Minifeature. Flying. Vol. 113, no. 12. pp. 96–97. ISSN 0015-4806.
  6. [6]
    Green, William; Swanborough, Gordon; Mowinski, John (12 September 1988). Modern commercial aircraft. Portland House (published November 1, 1988). ISBN 9780517633694.
  7. [7]
    Morris, John (September 7–12, 1986). A propfan status report (PDF). International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences (15th ed.). London, England, United Kingdom. pp. 1091–1098.
  8. [8]
    Harr, Amy, ed. (January 1990). "Propfan is shelved". Reporting Points. Flying. Vol. 117, no. 1. p. 13. ISSN 0015-4806.
  9. [9]
    Learmount, David (June 13, 1987). "Propfan: the price factor". Flight International. Seattle, Washington and Long Beach, California, USA. pp. 76–79. ISSN 0015-3710. Retrieved May 19, 2019.
  10. [10]
    Mongelluzzo, Bill (May 19, 1987). "New engine gets first test flight". Journal of Commerce. ISSN 1530-7557.
  11. [11]
    "Hard landing: The demonstration MD-80 slammed into runway, lost its tail". History. Avgeekery.com. December 25, 2017. Retrieved March 28, 2023.
  12. [12]
    "MDC studies propfan ASW" (PDF). Defence. Flight International. Vol. 132, no. 4076. Long Beach, California, USA. August 22, 1987. p. 8. ISSN 0015-3710.
  13. [13]
    Bailey, John (September 2, 1989). "After Orion". Flight International. Vol. 136, no. 4180. Los Angeles, California, USA. pp. 31–33. ISSN 0015-3710.
  14. [14]
    Vartabedian, Ralph (October 11, 1989). "Douglas unveils 2 jets, drops prop fan". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035.
  15. [15]
    Henne, P. A. (July 31 – August 2, 1989). MD-90 transport aircraft design. AIAA/AHS/ASEE Aircraft Design, Systems and Operations Conference. Seattle, Washington, USA. doi:10.2514/6.1989-2023. OCLC 1109563682.
  16. [16]
    Donne, Michael (September 7, 1988). "Farnborough International Air Show: US launches propfan sales drive". UK News. Financial Times. No. 30635. p. 8. ISSN 0307-1766.
  17. [17]
    "Douglas ponders MD-80 stretch" (PDF). Flight International. Vol. 134, no. 4140. November 19, 1988. p. 17. ISSN 0015-3710.
  18. [18]
    at MTOGW, sea level, 84 °F (29 °C)

Bibliography

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