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Some aircraft carry a livery. This one carried a legacy — and now carries its final chapter. N682RW spent over four decades in the air, delivered originally to Swissair back in 1981, making it, by the end of its flying career, the oldest actively flying MD-80 left in the world and the last operating MD-81 in North America. Operated by Olympia Aviation for the Detroit Red Wings, it was the third aircraft to wear this team livery, following a DC-9-51 and a BAC 1-11 that carried the Wings before it — and in later years, it pulled double duty ferrying the Detroit Tigers on road trips too.
That long run came to an end when Olympia Aviation brought in a newer Boeing 737-800 to take over team travel, retiring the MD-81 for good. The aircraft that once wore Swissair colors, then flew the Wings and Tigers across the continent for over a decade, has now gone quiet — parked at Detroit Metro Airport, its flying days behind it.
That kind of career is rare in commercial aviation, where the MD-80 family has long since aged out of mainline service. This jet outlasted them all, and its retirement closes the book on the last MD-81 anywhere in active use.
This print documents N682RW as it now sits: a genuine piece of aviation history, grounded at the same airport it once departed from — a survivor at rest.
Available as: 13x19 print with a signed Certificate of Authenticity.
Some aircraft carry a livery. This one carried a legacy — and now carries its final chapter. N682RW spent over four decades in the air, delivered originally to Swissair back in 1981, making it, by the end of its flying career, the oldest actively flying MD-80 left in the world and the last operating MD-81 in North America. Operated by Olympia Aviation for the Detroit Red Wings, it was the third aircraft to wear this team livery, following a DC-9-51 and a BAC 1-11 that carried the Wings before it — and in later years, it pulled double duty ferrying the Detroit Tigers on road trips too.
That long run came to an end when Olympia Aviation brought in a newer Boeing 737-800 to take over team travel, retiring the MD-81 for good. The aircraft that once wore Swissair colors, then flew the Wings and Tigers across the continent for over a decade, has now gone quiet — parked at Detroit Metro Airport, its flying days behind it.
That kind of career is rare in commercial aviation, where the MD-80 family has long since aged out of mainline service. This jet outlasted them all, and its retirement closes the book on the last MD-81 anywhere in active use.
This print documents N682RW as it now sits: a genuine piece of aviation history, grounded at the same airport it once departed from — a survivor at rest.
Available as: 13x19 print with a signed Certificate of Authenticity.