American Airlines MD-80 Retirement Day

Tuesday August 23, 2016 was a pretty momentous day for American Airlines.  They retired 20 McDonnell Douglas Super 80's, for so long, the backbone of the American domestic fleet.  At the height of their career, there were over 360 different variants of the aircraft in the fleet.   With the fleet renewal process occurring, there would be a time that they would go to their well deserved retirement.

One of the 20 aircraft that was retired in the process was N565AA, a DC-9-83(MD-83), C/N 49347, L/N 1373, first flight 4/23/1987.  It's port of departure for it's final retirement flight was Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport (KFLL).   At 11:15am, she was pushed back from the gate, and then taxied out to runway 10L and in some glorious sunlight, departed for it's final resting place is Roswell (KROW), New Mexico.  Here are some shots from the day, taken with a new acquisition, a Sigma 50-500mm lens - that I am looking so forward to using more and more...

In the meantime, some more time spent behind the camera lens...