Once I saw the Facebook post that Danish Air Transport (DAT) would retire its last MD-80 series aircraft, I went nuts.

https://www.facebook.com/flydat/posts/1700427980156416

After all, ever since I was a young avgeek back in Brazil, I wanted to fly the MD, but for a number of reasons, had never had the opportunity.

Now DAT’s MD-83 was the last of the Mad Dogs in Western Europe, so that would be my last chance to do it without doing an expensive trip to somewhere else.

So to Copenhagen I went. Because tickets were terribly expensive, I took a crazy itnerary from Bologna nonstop with Ryanair, and on the other way, from Copenhagen to Warsaw and Bucharest with LOT, then a 16-hour layover and onto Rome with Ryanair again. Worth it.

DTR1 CPH-CPH

I arrived in Copenhagen Airport with plenty of time to spare; the terminal is connected to the city’s metro system, which is incredibly seamless and reliable, a real first-world structure.

I could not do my check-in online for whatever reason, so I went to print the boarding pass. Apparently, DAT shares its check-in area with SAS. After five minutes of wait, in a couple of minutes I was greeted by the smiling check-in agent, which quickly printed my boarding pass.

Safety screening took some 10 more minutes and soon I was at the airside.

After having lunch and some beer in a restaurant in the airside, I proceeded to the gate, where the DAT guys were preparing everything.

The CEO of DAT, Jesper Rungholm, was also there; he would be the Captain for this special flight.

I quickly spoke to him and he explained that OY-RUE, that belongs to DAT, was approaching a heavy maintenance check that would be way too expensive for the airline, which is fully owned by him and is a small carrier after all.

So as much as he is passionate about the Mad Dog, he was not willing to burn millions of euros in a passion that would harm the company. Apparently he is in dealings with Iranian operators, that still require old aircraft as the MD because of the sanctions imposed to the country.

And there she was! I could not believe my eyes.

According to Planespotters.net, OY-RUE was originally delivered to the UK’s Airtours International Airways as G-HCRP on November 1990, being then transfered to Turkey’s short-lived charter carrier Sunways as TC-INB on March 1995.

AOM French Airlines then took hold of the plane on December 1997 as EI-CPA, then transfering it to Spanair as EC-GVI on June 1998, operating for the Spanish carrier until December 2008, when the ship was returned to its lessor, GECAS, as N936MD.

The aircraft was then acquired by Romania’s Medallion Air as YR-HBZ on October 2009, then being bought by DAT on January 2010, keeping its registration (OY-RUE) ever since.

In 2013, the plane was painted in Coca-Cola colors to carry the World Cup Trophy around the world, and it has kept the basic colors of the event ever since.

Anyway, flash forward to October 2021 and Captain Jesper spoke a few words at the gate and boarding started shortly afterwards.

Overall, DAT had kept that bird impeccably well maintained. Looking by the seats only, you would barely notice this was a 31-year old plane.

The overhead bins was decorated with some advertising about the flight – and about the Facebook group they had created for the flight – in Danish.

DAT put 165 seats in OY-RUE in a full Economy configuration. That’s more or less what other companies did, like Allegiant in the States and their 166 seats.

And most importantly, I had the best seat in the house, 31F, just by the engines.

The space for the legs was alright, despite the dense cabin configuration.

Because very few passengers had a carry-on and seating was free, soon boarding was finished and pushback was started.

And when that pair of Pratt & Whitney JT8D-219 started to gain life, boy, what a sound it was.

At 14h12, the Mad Dog raced through Copenhagen’s runway and there we went. The noise those engines made was insane.

While Captain Jesper said we were supposed to do some flying over Denmark, the day was kinda cloudy in Denmark, so he announced that ATC gave them free airspace and they would now draw “MD” in the sky.

Soon the flight attendants started the onboard service, with offers of beer, wine and soft drinks.

Cheers.

Captain Rungholm informed us that the flight would be more or less inclined, with all the turns required to write in the sky.

He then informed us that the doors to the cockpit would be open for visit, and then passengers went nuts.

MD????80https://t.co/LVD4Cj2tYv pic.twitter.com/vll6QL8wIV

— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) October 16, 2021

Summing up, I liked the flight experience in the Mad Dog. As mentioned before, DAT took good care of that plane.

While everyone was in line to see the pilots working through writing in the sky, I took my time to enjoy that moment and to observe the MD’s details.

And look at this overhead panel.

Almost like a time machine to the 80s.

After my beer was over, I headed to the aisle to go see the cockpit. Before, I took a look at the toilet.

Look at this sign. Way more inspired than the ones we see nowadays.

And even the lavatory felt like a throwback to the old years of the industry.

Now onto the cockpit, while the flight was not exactly bumpy, it was very twisty with all the turns.

The crew was very busy with setting the headings, but it was great nevertheless to observe this kind of operation. Nowadays, with all the strict regulations, it’s virtually impossible to have this type of visit in a normal flight.

Back to my seat, apparently the crew had been serving sandwiches, so I took mine.

Just after I finished it, though, we started our descent. And Captain Jesper unveiled the last surprise of the day; we would do low passes in Roskilde and in Copenhagen airports before finally landing back in Copenhagen. Just spectacular.

Now you can watch the low passes and the landing in the video I’ve embedded earlier in the article. Landing back in Kastrup Airport took place at 15h35, and OY-RUE was greeted by the local firefighters with a water salute.

And the best was yet to come… deboarding would be made through the stairs in the rear.

Because I wanted to take a photo of the crew, I waited everyone to deboard first; I also took the opportunity to take some more photos of the empty cabin.

When you compare these overhead bins to the ones we see nowadays, it’s almost strange to think people could survive these. Later these days, people want to take their entire lives in their massive hand luggages.

Nevertheless, I liked DAT’s cabin in the MD-80s. Strangely enough, once we were in the ground, plenty of safety cards had disappeared… I wonder why.

The front door had also been opened, but for whatever reason, nobody wanted to use it.

Oh, that’s why. What an opportunity.

The other passengers did the slowest walk ever back to the gate to enjoy this moment in the fullest, while I waited for the crew to clear the plane.

They shined through the flight and all spoke lovely about the Mad Dog.

Then it was my turn to wave goodbye to Uniform Echo.

What a memorable experience it was, and one I’ll forever take with me. It was definitely worth the wait. Long live the Mad Dogs!