Ex-AeroMexico Douglas DC-8-51 Departing BUR for MIA 

I flew this airplane as copilot and captain for around 18 years alltogether, it was one of the best airplanes I ever flew.

The DC-8-50 series, the very best jetliner ever built! It was a great pleasure to fly it as pilot. Will never forget this great and reliable work horse. Thank you very much for this awesome video.

I worked at Mercury Air Center directly south of this location. I used to see this aircraft every day and wondered what the deal was. One day I came to work and it was gone. For a year it had been a permanent fixture. Great to see this video and know a little of the back-story of this old bird.

Toronto to Miami red eye flight , in those days the flight would take almost 5 hours , your ears would pop on take off as you climb , but what a thrill it was to fly back then , real service real food , you felt special , today its all business , and how many people can we cram in to that thing

Cool plane. My family used to fly these back and forth between Europe and the USA on Icelandic Airlines. We always had a stopover in Iceland. The thing I remember most about these planes was how long they looked when you were inside and how much the wings flexed with those big jets. Flying was an adventure then. I have a soft spot for this particular DC-8 because it's from 1966--like ME!

Dude.............. you just brought too many memories, tears and joy back to my eyes, how could I forget hearing those JT3D's!, roaring over my house and when spotting at MMMX in the 80's, when I was a child. This is by far one of the best DC-8 videos on the net. Really thank you for sharing such a wonderful job!

That was wonderful! Back in my childhood aircraft like this were the state of the art, part of every boy's dreams. And our parents all wanted to be part of that make-believe Madison Avenue world called the jet set. I'm sure that kids today look at the once mighty DC-8 as ancient, even a little scary. To me it still looks brand new and the stuff that a million dreams are made of. The world changes so fast.

My first flight ever was supposed to be on a 747 to Honolulu in 1971 but was cancelled due to mechanical problems. So after waiting more than 3hrs United Airlines drag's out this faded and dusty old DC-8 that had been retired and sitting, the pilot said in open storage at LAX for 4 months. The cabin was very hot from sitting in the socal sun and the smell of stale cigarette smoke and yellowing of the cabin from top to bottom from said smoke made a memorial impression. You could scrape enough tar & nicotine from the ashtrays to patch holes in the runway, this DC-8 must have been from the late 50s early 60s. The best was on takeoff roll, flat spots on the tires from sitting so long caused a vibration, just a thump thump at first then intensified with noise and motion to the point I thought the overhead compartments and paneling were going to come crashing down just before the plane left ground, I loved every second of it. Analog cockpits and ashtrays within arm's reach, those were the good old​days. Till this day I get a whiff of stale cigarette smoke when I think of classic airliners. Thanks for the memories United Airlines.

I flew in this amazing and beautiful plan twice in 1963 (KLM DC-8-33, Zurich-Amsterdam) and 1972 (KLM DC-8-55, Amsterdam- Alicante, Spain). During the seventies my father was flight engineer on the DC-8 bye Martinair Holland (DC-8-33 and DC-8-55F). Living next to Schiphol (in the sixties and seventies) i saw them daily and i still remember the sound.

Grandes recuerdos de un Avión que todavía se sentía volar. Lo volé pór 8 (ocho) años en AEROMEXICO

Loved how pilot climbed the stairs with a cigar in his mouth. Too cool for school. In the early 90's, when I was getting all my ratings and licenses, I worked for an FBO and we used a huge 4 wheel steering Coleman tug. I pushed back our field's Emery Worldwide DC-8 with all 4 engines running after airstart. One time, pilot didn't have brakes set and my air brakes had bled down while holding too much pedal during engine startup. The result was 4 idling Pratt & Whitneys pushing a 26,000# tug backward a couple feet. I knew enough to let the pilot use his brakes rather than stab my own and damage the nose gear and radome from strut compression (this tug was tall and I only had a few inches of clearance). Pretty cool job for a college kid.

Brings back childhood memories! I've flown on so many of these DC-8s. Great birds!

10 flight sim noobs gave it a thumbs down because they saw all the gauges and thought this was a video about a space capsule. Excellent video, beautiful aircraft

I flew on United Airlines DC-8's from Baltimore to San Francisco and San Francisco to Hilo, Hawaii in the early 1970's. United eventually switched to DC-10's but I always loved to fly aboard the DC-8. It has the look and the sound that many of today's aircraft are lacking.

I worked as an A&P mechanic and Maintenance Inspector in Aeroméxico Airlines. I had the experience to work on this marvelous airplane. Great memories from late 70's early 80's.

I did a tour in Vietnam, 1970-71, and we were flown from Travis AFB to Vietnam via Hawaii and Phillipines on a Universal Airways DC8, one of the charter airlines DOD used to ferry troops. I remember VERY clearly the Captain coming on the PA and announcing that Tan Son Nhut airbase was under attack and we'd be making a "combat" approach, which involved a VERY scary descent using thrust-reversers in flight, then upon landing, doing a highspeed rollout between two revetments. Fun times!!!

She's obviously light but that looked like a super brisk take off - very impressive. I love the classic jets, so much more character than the new space-age computerised buses, so what they're noisy and smokey, a lot of people are too we don't go putting them out to pasture

The DC8 was my "jet trainer" as new S/0 and then upgrade to F/O. What a jet ! Great flying bird, I loved my stick time in it. Engines are music to my ears again !

I flew in a KLM jet to Europe in 1964, WHAT A TRIP. Loud but classy inside where women wore hats and men were in suit & tie. Real food was served such as steaks and you chose from a menu. A lot of leg room but then again I was 8 years old.

Flew the Tijuana-Guadalajara route via Aeromexico on those planes as a kid in the early to mid '80s before they switched to DC-10s.

My first-ever aircraft flight was in a Trans Canada Airlines DC-8, August 1963. Vancouver BC to Toronto. Hard to forget that one. Fun to see these old birds, but aviation has come a long way!

The two bulging air scoops under the nose are turbocompressor inlets. Not reverse thrust, not fan bypass ducts. Early jets had these, which were separate, ram air powered devices that facilitated cabin pressurization and air conditioning. On 707s the turbocompressors were on the engine pylons above 2 or more engines. On the DC-8 they were under the nose as seen. That is why the air-start hooks up there, it is an integral part of the airplane's pneumatics.

el avion mas hermoso del mundo y de todos los tiempos

i only saw her live 3x in my life (DC8-53F of Affretair in Prague 1988 last); this plane looks & roars like the finest piece of engineering going hand in hand with esthetics.

What a machine! But even Wiki doesn't say who is still flying them. Used to see them flying over my apartment in Chicago, early-mid 60s and even later. From O'Hare out over the lake.You could see the smoke AND hear them for 20 + minutes. So cool. Thanks for the memories!

My first flight on this DC-8 was so long ago that i could not remember how old i was at that time and the variant i flew. The flight was a Garuda Indonesia. The plane route was Denpasar-Jakarta-Tokyo or Osaka. I flew the domestic flight from DPS- JKT. It was unforgettable flight because this was my first flight on such a big plane with four jet engines and the only DC-8 serving Indonesia's domestic flight. Usually at that time, the flight to Denpasar under 1 1/2 hours would be served by a Fokker 27 Friendship and flight of more than 1 1/2 hours by a DC-9-10 or 30 by Garuda Indonesia whereas other domestic carriers will flew only fleet of turboprops consisting of British Aerospace BAe-748 or Hawker Siddeley HS-748 Srs2A/235 and Vickers 843, 832 or 812 Viscount. I remember passengers could still had the choice of non smoking or smoking seat and before flight, passengers were served with choices of drinks, sweets and cigarettes. That was more than 35 years ago.

Happy to see the DC8, remembrance... about 1965-1967, when I was a teen ager everybody came from Paris to Abidjan with a DC8 ( me, my family and all the European people )

I flew from Dallas Love Field to LAX on one of these. It was a Braniff plane. When we landed at LAX, the plane shut down at the end of the runway and we had to be towed to the terminal. They said the plane lost too much hydraulic fluid and had no brakes after landing.

When I was growing up I used to go to Lindbergh Field (now San Diego Intl) and hang around the old terminal which was then at the east end of the field just off Pacific Coast Hwy. No such thing as security back then and I got to know a lot of the people working for the various airlines. National Airlines used to fly DC-8's into San Diego and I remember one day while I was admiring one a very nice 1st officer gave me a complete tour inside and out. Sitting in the captain's seat and looking at the dials and switches was mind boggling and I could see why it took three people to manage it. Reluctantly I never did get the chance to travel in a DC-8 but after that tour it was one of my very favorite jetliners along with the Convair 880 and 990 which were built right there in San Diego. I did get to fly in an 880 once just before TWA retired them and they were nice to fly in, except for the smoking which is about the only thing about travel I don't miss. I wonder if there are any Convair jetliners still flyable......

Many flights out of BUR, many flights flying DC-8s. But never of the two but together. Brings back the memory's. Great video....

Yo volé como pasajero Caracas - Ciudad de Panamá - Ciudad de México en este mismo tipo de avión llamado Veracruz...lo que si me recuerdo fué la extraordinaria atención a bordo...cosa muy distante hoy día en muchas aerolíneas...al menos que vueles en first class o seas VIP.

Como ex azafata de braniff int. En 1979 puedo decir sin equivocarme que es el mejor avion que conozco confiable seguro y para mi hermoso grandes recuerdos!!!!

Craig sure loves those 'Mighty DC-8s'! (I agree with Coaljet, that's why I bought some of Craig's vides, and still have them!) Thanks for posting.

They used these on the Tijuana - Aguascalientes route back in 1984, loved flying in them..😃

Fun to watch! I wish there had been more attention to the engine startup, that's the best part of a DC8.

That dc8 appears to be an old TCA dc-8. TCA is now Air Canada. Use to watch them take off out of winnipeg and Toronto all the time

One of my first flights was on an Iceland Air DC-8 from Frankfurt to Orlando when I was 12 years old. It seemed somewhat dubious to me already at the time, but it got us there and back just fine. And I got cool little plastic pilot wings.

A classic video of my fav classic airplane. My dad had the safety licence on the type and he traveled around the world to train maint. staff on the DC8. Thanks for a wonderful video. I have watched it over and over and will never get bored.

I remember seeing this aircraft sitting at CYYC for months after Holidair went under. It was blue with a gold maple leaf on the tail.

This airplane is a great part of the Mexican history. An ex Aeromexico dc 8-51 still flying in somewere ...Is very sad that to know that Mexican we couldn't preserved a beautiful airplane like it . For the Mexican Airliners all is money and the history is not important. My first touch with the aviation in Mexico it was exactly with this airplane in 1979 I saw this huge airplane runninig to the 05 left to take off when on hangares Ave.I was only 11 years old and this airplane shaking me from feet to head Im so glad to see it again congratulations to the owners of this "Caballero Aguila" Greetings from Mexico.

I loved the DC-8, although my trips on them were few and all of them on Delta Air Lines.....DC-8-51 series: 1968 ATL-IAD, 1973 ATL-LAX-SAN...SAN-LAX, and in 1979 a DC-8-71 series: MEM-ATL. Great aircraft! Thanks for a fine video!

A shame to see the old bird looking so dilapidated, but at least it's flying. Note those AC inlet ducts on the nose, no 'bleed air' on the DC-8 and the amount of smoke from the engines in the initial climb is prodigious. Of the earlier jets, the only one I've flown is the 'Super' 727, which was OK, but the electrics kept cutting out judging by the lighting. Arcs to the airframe from tired wiring ? Scary !

I flew on a DC-8-62 with SAS in 1968 when I was young. Flew from the United States all the way to Copenhagen!

My second jet flight was on a Delta DC-8 from Chicago to Atlanta. Changed planes and flew on a DC-9 to Columbia, SC. Two very nice flights.

I only flew on a DC-8 once, when I was 11 years old. It was a bright yellow Braniff DC-8-62, GIG-VCP-LIM-PTY-MIA. The flight took over 13 hours because of the stops and the detour through western South America and the Pacific - nonstop GIG-MIA it would have been only 8 hours. It wasn't a very enjoyable flight because I could never sleep on planes, there was no movie or any other form of entertainment, and kids get bored easily. Moreover, there was something wrong with the air conditioning on that flight - too dry, my nose burned when breathing and it almost bled. It was particularly bad on the VCP-LIM leg, because it was the longest (4 hours). My return flight from the U.S. on that trip was JFK-GIG nonstop in about 9 hours on an Aerolineas Argentinas Boeing 707. It was much better, but given the unfortunate circumstances of the first flight, I can't really blame the DC-8, which is a remarkable project.

lovely video. great old planes . and good sound of those engines

Flew dozens of these growing up ... mainly Eastern Airlines. I was really fascinated by the "stretch" version.

@dihowe55, that's correct. C-FFQI (as she was known then) was flown several times with Holidair around 1989. I put that in the tags (keywords) in case people searched for it but it was so short lived that I didn't put it in the description. You're also right about CP Air & Air Canada, she never flew with them. Delivered to Aeronaves de Mexico (AeroMexico), then to Holidair for a short time, Agro Air International, Fine Air Services, ATC Colombia and now it sits engineless in MIA last I heard.

What a lovely old bird. Thanks for posting!

Whatever people may say, this is some pretty amazing footage! Really happy to see it here on YT in the 21st century.

I flew many times on a DC 8 with Delta Airlines when I was a young men I loved that plane and stil do, when I boarding this plane it feld like I am home. Sorry for my Englisch

McDonnell Douglas was like the peterbuilt of airplanes , it was as though they were assembled of spair parts laying around, but built tough as nails...

THAT IS WHAT I CALL AN AIRPLANE ,AND THX 4 POSTING !

Now that's what I call a sweet ride

Wow...I saw this airplane in Tijuana in Aero Mexico Livery in the late 70's...wow time flies...sad how they all end their service..... Cool video though.

I never flew in the dc 8 or 9 or 10...was my childhood fantasy to fly in all those machines...still I have many fond memories of flying in all the boeings 737 thru 747...big beautiful noisy stinky jets..todays airliners just dont do it for me any more

What a plane , wonder how much it was maintained ! There is seams to work fine , just clean it up some and it’s good to carry on . I flew these Keflavik to NewYork as a child ! Thanks !

HAHA, damn! My kind of pilot. Big cigar boarding the plane and sporting a big mustache. That's awesome!

@TheMaurypol, yeah she was N507DC at the time. You can do a photo search on Airliners . net for N507DC and it will show you photos with the older and newer colors as well as a pic of her as XA-SIB.

@Coaljet I agree with you, the "baby 8" is a great looking aircraft in every detail as it was for the most part of the early jets in the 60s. It is an aircraft for real pilots, YOU fly the airplane and not a computer like all the actual last generation jetliners...

Thanks for explaining. But I still don't understand the louvers. When they open, doesn't the air escape outward (sideways) instead of forward? That's not very effective. No? The revised nacelle on the DC8-62 and 63 is much simpler and easier to figure out.

São os Verdadeiros Clássicos Que Deixam Saudades 😍😍😍😍

Love this

The reason for the turbocompressors is FAA believed bleed air was toxic and forbade it's use in the cabin, so bleed air just spinned them and thus they pressurized the cabin...by 1990, the use of bleed air was OK'd and all turbocompressors where removed(you see by the half blocked chin inlet) by that time, there was only cargo DC-8...so bleed air was used for pressurization and air conditioning, on the ground, we used a car AC system from some junkyard for the cockpit. improved life 100%

Although it is a former Aero Mexico plane, that sure looks like a golden maple leaf on the tail, and not just a painted out logo. Wonder if it might be "movie paint"?

DC 8's. Wow, brings back memories. Put a lot of hours traveling to & from PPG Intl. Pago Pago Am. Samoa to Honolulu on SPIA (South Pacific Island Airways). Beautiful ACFT.

@hotelgulf718, thanks buddy! I'll pass that along to Craig, he'll love to hear that! The VHS tape that this video came from was about 40:00 long, that tells you how much Craig loves the eight. It's quite difficult to cut 40 minutes of gold down to just 9 1/2 but I tried to put a little bit of everything in this video. I do want to see the print when you're done, maybe I can buy a copy from you. I'd love for you to be a subscriber, we have a ton of classic stuff still on the way. Thanks

el dc 8 es mi avion favorito, excelente video

XA-SIB, i flew in that aircraft in the early 70s and went up front to visit the flight deck with my dad

Yes you are right, neat old planes for sure

Mi abuelo El Capitan Carlos Reyes de Aeroméxico lo voló.

NICE! I subscribed! I love your Champion Air avatar! I remember seeing those 727s at DTW before I even was a spotter!!!!

As a child of the 70's DC8's, 707's, 727's, L1011's, DC 10's and 747's were a way of life since my parents house was inbetween the flight paths of JFK and LAG. It was fun to watch and listen to the planes. Except for the 747 and the A380, today's planes aren't as interesting.

@101HeyNow Those are the fan bypass air ducts (outlets) These are Pratt & Whitney JT3D's, which are a very old low-bypass turbofan engine. Engine thrust produced by the fan only, exits from those ducts. Most of the air coming in on those old puppys goes through the core to be mixed with fuel and burned. Todays turbofans are high-bypass, most of the thrust is from the fan alone and thus why the engines are so large around now.

Yes. They are for ram air to the a/c cabin pressurization packs.

Is it me or those DC-8 had an impressive wing span (compared to more recent jets) ?

the body of the plane seems so huge but the inside passenger cabin is so tiny!

It still has the maple leaf on the tail. I remember seeing this Holidair bird parked up at CYYC for a long time. The livery then was blue with the gold maple leaf.

What a classic!!!

Great video!!

amazing classic smoker 👍 I see a lot of old DC-8 during my first visit in MIA 1990. unfortunately this time is over. I like this sound of this aircraft. And today ...... 👎

Sweet! The only word for this video!

Now that's a plane!

DC -8's always look like they are smiling to me - I call them the "happy plane". I've never flown on one, but I did fly on a DC-9 with Hughes Air West. The food wasn't the best and it was a bit bumpy - But flying in January in the Pacific Northwest can be like that!

MUY BUEN VIDEO POR LOS RECUERDOS DE LA AVIACIÓN

Man that would have been a great picture through the fence down at the end of the runway!

Nice!

UN RESPETABLE DC-8. HERMOSO!

fantastic video ! I miss those dc-8 and boeing 707 ! Those smokey engines ....

The louvers open to let escape air blocked by a panel in the fan air duct around the engine on the 50 series and the DC-8-61...the turbine's gasses have a bucket...the bucket on the 62-63, much stronger, will block BOTH fan air and turbine gasses. What is remarkable on the 8 is that, since the spoilers are not effective except on the ground, you use reversers anytime you want, up to MMO of Mach 88 or 380 knots indicated(Well over 600 miles an hour)...On an Airbus, the wing would break off!

@mcdonnell220, thanks buddy! Craig's been bringing some amazing footage, he's making me work :)

I flew on these for many years. The leaf on the tail is the wrong color for Air Canada but the interior is definitely AC

No, when this video was taken, I was already retired as a DC-10 Capt.

I can never understand the structural design of the JT3 nacelle on the DC8-50 and -61. I don't see a bypass duct as those I see on 707's and DC-8-62/63. Here, all I see are only 2 slits on the sides of the engines that could act as the nozzles for bypass air. But are they really bypass ducts? And how does the reversers work on this nacelle? I see some panels lifted during landing but the air is directed outward not forward.

That's the harley road glides of jets! Awesome

Amazing plane! When was this footage taken?

que padrísimo, aún vuela?

from the side, looks like the plane is smiling :)

Flew on one years ago I think air canada bumpy turbulence from LaGuardia to Montreal.seemed solid though

You tried hard explaining. Thanks! But the louvres seem to let air escape from the turbine core not the fan air duct, which I assume is the slit in the mid section of the engine. Therefore, seems that the louvres open to let core/turbine exhaust escape becaue it is blocked by the turbine bucket you described. Where does the fan air excape then if the slit is blocked by the panel you mentioned? Sorry, I am so dense. What u said about the 8's spoilers and reversers was fascinating! Had no idea.