Meet the fleet: CASCADE AIR MD-90

251200Z JUL 26

Meet the fleet: CASCADE AIR MD-90 6ef1315

A CASCADE AIR MD-90 in flight over the Bay — T-tail and rear-mounted engines, dark tail over a dark cheatline

Down from the Northwest. CASCADE AIR feeds SFO from Seattle, Portland and points north, and it does it with the quietest Mad Dog ever built: the MD-90, with its T-tail and rear-mounted V2500s whispering in over the hills where the older jets roar. 158 souls aboard. Spot her by the long fuselage, the high tail, and engines exactly where the tail ought to be.

THE AIRCRAFT — McDonnell Douglas MD-90 · length 152 ft 7 in · wingspan 107 ft 10 in · two IAE V2500s — the first airliner ever certified with them · cruise Mach 0.76 · range about 2,085 nautical miles · 153–172 seats · first flight 22 February 1993: the last and quietest of a line stretching straight back to the DC-9.

Where to meet her: descending out of the north on the arrival flow, all day, every day. Formate, wave at the cockpit, remember the souls aboard — and let her land.