BOS-AMS on a Northwest DC10

The moment I’d been waiting for; my first DC-10 flight. Just got off the old bird this morning, so as promised here are the details of that flight plus a list of the other aircraft I travelled on during the trip.

MME-AMS KLM Fokker 100 PH-OFC
AMS-IAH KLM Boeing 763 PH-BZO
IAH-BOS Continental Boeing 733 N17345
BOS-AMS Northwest DC10-30 N235NW
AMS-MME KLM Fokker 70 PH-JCT

BOS-AMS 22nd September 2005

I’d been let down twice before when attempting to travel on a wide bodied tri-jet, so it was third time lucky last night when I turned up at the gate and found N235NW waiting for me in Boston.

N235NW is still in the old Northwest colours. She started her life with Korean in early 1975 before transferring over to Northwest in 1996. At just over 30 years old, marginally older than me, she is probably the oldest aircraft I’ve been on since I was knee high.

As much as I love these old aircraft, they do look tatty. N235NW looks her age and the lack of recent paintwork is evident. Inside, the aircraft has a 2-5-2 configuration and I found myself sat in 19A; a window seat directly over the wing. The seats were blue and again worn. The entertainment system was the old cinema screen at the front of each section; it is many years since I’ve seen this on a plane. What was more archaic was the armrest controls – you turned a dial to select your audio channel and a further dial to adjust the volume. You just knew this aircraft had seen better days but this was the attraction; there are so few left now in passenger service and soon even Northwest will have none. In fact the Boston flight will change to an A330 in only a few weeks time so I was very lucky to make this.

The engines started up ten minutes ahead of schedule of flight 68. The roar was deafening yet not disconcerting as I was expecting something like this.

We bellowed down the runway and lifted off banking immediately to our left and heading out towards the Atlantic. The flight would last 6 hours; a nice short ride for a long haul trip.

The engines changed pitch several times on climb (not unusual) but the sounds themselves were unusual for me. This was a completely new experience and it did feel like I’d gone back in time. With all due respect, the cabin crew also looked as if they had been working the same DC10 for the last 30 years; whilst the aircraft dated back to the glamour days of flying, the crew certainly didn’t resemble today’s often glamorous standards. That said, and more importantly, the crew did a fantastic, professional job and couldn’t do enough for you.

The film on our cine screen was Monster-in-Law, the same film that I had seen on Continental on last Monday evening. The food was a choice of chicken or curry; I chose chicken and enjoyed it as much as you can airline food.

The cockpit crew gave us regular updates, which is unusual for overnight flights. They were also very quick to turn on the seat belt sign at even the slightest bump. Sure, its all for our safety which I applaud but the American airlines seem to do this a lot quicker than their European counterparts.

Seat belt signs aside; the flight was actually very smooth. In fact, I’d say I’d been on a lot worse flights where seat belt signs never once lit up.

Very noticeable on the DC10 is the huge windows. This made a big difference to my view (though most of it was looking at the reflection of the moon and stars in the lower clouds). Also the wide cabin was appealing. I’m sure no wider than a 747 but airy and comfortable despite the age.

On approach into Amsterdam, the usual landing noises began, though with an edge and volume I hadn’t heard in ages. The touchdown was perfect and we arrived, bleary eyed about 10 minutes ahead of schedule.

It’s been a long wait, but its been worth it. Many passengers last night wouldn’t have noticed the plane they were flying on; many would have noted and passed comment on the lack of facilities and its dreary appearance. But, I sat back and enjoyed a piece of history and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Well I had to, because the chances of repeating a passenger DC10 flight again are diminishing with each passing day.

10/10!!