Mitt Romney’s official plane revealed

AS expected, last night, Mitt Romney accepted the nomination of his party for president.

With unemployment stuck at or above 8 percent for the past 42 months, the former governor of Massachusetts promised to create 12 million new jobs in the next four years.

Anyway – without getting too much into politics, Romney’s new plane was spotted Thursday by a producer for CNN, who tweeted a picture of the aircraft.

Until now, Romney, his aides, and reporters covering him have flown in either unmarked charter planes or in planes marked with their operators’ logos.
The customized jet, a McDonnell-Douglas 83, is emblazoned with the Romney-Ryan logo. Vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan will also get his plane — a DC-93.

According to McDonnell-Douglas, the MD -83 is a longer range version of the basic MD-81/82 with higher weights, more powerful engines, increased fuel capacity and longer range.

McDonnell-Douglas sais typical range for the MD-83 with 155 passengers is around 2,504 nautical miles (4,637 km). To cope with the higher operating weights, the MD-83 incorporates strengthened landing gear including new wheels, tires and brakes.
An April 1998 TWA order for 24 MD-83s will see the MD-80 remain in production until January 2000.

Swissair and Austrian Airlines began the first service, while American Airlines operates the largest number of MD-80s, a fleet of 275. In addition, 35 MD-80 airplanes were assembled and are operating in the People’s Republic of China.