Interview – Pete Conrad

McDonnell Douglas is one of the world’s largest aerospace corporations. Existing programmes include the F-15, F-18, AV-88 and T-45 while the civil line is working to capacity on MD-80 twinjets. In the future lie the giant C-17 and MD-11 programmes in addition to an as yet un-designated propfan airliner. Australian Aviation recently spoke with MDC Corporate Vice President, Commercial Aircraft, Pete Conrad (ex-combat pilot and Apollo 12 Mission Commander) on the directions in which the present and new aircraft programmes were heading.

JT: The civil side of McDonnell Douglas’s operations are booming with 8 MD80s being rolled out each month and an imminent launch of the MD-11 wide-bodied trijet. Your biggest coup in the long term though could be having a vehicle, in the present MD-80 airframe, ready for the early nineties using propfan-type propulsion. Would this be a major design goal in terms of transforming MD-83 and projected MD-89 aircraft to propfan propulsion to combat the Boeing 1992 airliner and the Airbus A320?

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