First 727 flies again

There are not hush kits on that plane in the vid for that flight.

 

Here's an excellent video of the landing and water salute.

http://youtu.be/HM2KZ8a-Kvg

 

Another of the landing, taxi in and final shut down (shot from the MOF).
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cf_tzxEe_c0[/ame]

 

I'm sure there is but more than likely not on primary passenger routes.

Here is a video of a 727 Freighter landing at St.Maarten eleven months ago. Note the winglets...
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScFK_VwJFUY[/ame]

 

Corporate conversion.
Mar 24, 2015

Malibu Consulting Corporation :: Boeing 727-21 :: VP-BAP
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Very noisy departure on runway 28 at Zurich Airport - this aircraft was built in 1967, but it has been re-engined some time ago with newer JT8D engines.
Really nice looking airplane.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=c4LtoXZbhI4

 

When we took off from PBI on Sunday, the FBOs were full of bizjets, not surprising since the PGA tour was in town. (There would have been more on Thursday and Friday, before half the field was cut in the golf tournament.) There was one unmarked 727 on the south side.

(Also a 757 belonging to a part-time local resident named....Donald Trump.)

 

Trump ran a 727 for many years until he traded up

 

I think PLAYBOY had a black 727 for a while. White rabbit head on the tail.

 

The SW Business (Silk Way) 727 in the same thread is beautiful. Based in Azerbaijan.
Looks like that 'N' number (4K-8888) has now been assigned to an A-319.

 

Wasn't that a DC-9 during the Barbie Benton days?

 

"Hoot" Gibson rolled one-at night. He didn't do it on purpose though. Actually one of the greatest feats of airmanship in airline history. Google it. A chilling tale.

 

Oops.. you are correct. DC-9. "Big Bunny".

I remember when it was for sale sitting in Chicago.

 

Did Gibson admit to fiddling with the TE flaps to get little more lift at cruise? It was known that if you pulled the breaker to the trailing edge flaps and LE slats interconnect, you could deploy the TE flaps to something like 2 deg to increase the L/D and the leading edge slats stayed put. Normally they worked in concert with the trailing edge flaps. The way we heard it was that the Flight Engineer came back from the lav and noticed that the CB for the slats had been pulled (or popped ) and he reset it. The slats were activated and did their thing and started to deploy at at a velocity for which they were not designed , causing a collapse.
There were rumors that Lew Wallick rolled a 727 but "nobody" ever admitted to it. It would be capable of it because of its excellent controls and strength . I think one of the scariest films I ever saw was the midair movies taken of the high speed flutter tests on the 727 prototype. They had vanes mounted on the right hand stabilizer and right hand wing and the disparate oscillation frequencies had the airplane in two flutter modes at the same time. I never thought that I would see that much movement in an airplane in flight. The main concern with that airplane was the integrity of the vertical tail with some heavy loads on top from the horizontal tail, and the base had a big opening in it for the aft air stairs. The structures guys did a great job on it.

 

It was D.B. Cooper's favorite plane.

 

As a young, budding gearhead addicted to bikes, cars and anything with an engine... the July/1981 Cycle World road test of the Honda CBX 6-cylinder motorcycle is permanently ingrained in my dna.

After my copy would arrive in the mail, I could never make it past the kitchen table before reading it cover to cover. Back then it was a real magazine with 5 or 6 comprehensive tests and upwards of 200 pages. I will never forget these words...

"...from 4000 to redline it comes on with the nicest silken rush of power this side of a 727 recently cleared for takeoff..."

For whatever reason I read that line over and over again. I could relate! It seemed every time I flew in the 70's and 80's it was one of those cool-looking, noisy-ass 3-engine things that just looked right to me. At takeoff it did indeed seem like the hand of god was pushing you into the air.

As I progressed into my motorcycle "career" anytime I was flogging a CBX I thought of this article.

1981 Honda CBX Road Test

 

I was working on my first oil painting that night, Thanksgiving Eve 1971, when I heard it erupt on my airline band radio. I listened to it as the 727 passed over the house on its way south.I stayed with it until it was out of range.

 

The article says they spent years in the restoration of this jet in preparation for its final flight. My question, why spend all of the effort and money on a jet that was going to fly for 17 minutes? I understand the significance of this airplane but couldn't they have unbolted the wings and trucked it to the new location? I would think it would be a better use of the resources to restore a plane that would be flown multiple times.

 

Love the 727...

When I was a kid I lived in a trailer park right under final at the Santa Barbara airport in Goleta and would watch the UAL 727s screaming in right over my home. I had a poster of the 727 cockpit tacked up as a headboard for my bed and dreamed of one day piloting a 727. The only flight I ever took on one was the flight that took me from SBA to the Air Force Academy when I was 17 years old. That's still one of the coolest flights I've ever had in my entire life, for so many reasons, but the thrill of flying in the 727 is still palpable. I just love that airplane!

 

Actually, it's been done but in reverse, from Seattle to Everett.
It was harder than it sounds.
The purpose was to provide an airframe for training in the new "Skills Process Center" back in the 80's.
It was just the fuselage with no tail.
It was towed on a custom low dolly so it would clear under the Convention Center (and other bridges) IIRC.

This one would have involved multiple truckloads and a place to do the final restoration near the MOF, which I am not sure they have at this time. (Plus, I think they just wanted to fly it one more time, for the record)

 

Spasso, thx for the info, I was wondering if there wasn't some special reason for this.

 

This is typical of so many last minute saves. So many valuable airplanes were destroyed or neglected before somebody thought that they should be saved , some too late. The last 314 Clipper was scrapped, the first 707-121 was scrapped, thousands of B-17's were scrapped and some of them were unbelievable war heroes, too many P-51's were destroyed, and too many other valuable artifacts were junked. One of the worst was the scrapping of the aircraft carrier Bunker Hill that survived unbelievable carnage and made its way home. It would have been a lasting monument to the courage and bravery of the Navy personnel that saved it. B-17's that somehow returned to the states told a story that no one else could duplicate. The wear and tear of hard use mixed with the smells and patched damage from hundreds of hours of training and combat was gripping. The airplane, however, was still operable and ready for another flight, peaceful or combat. Much like a faithful draught horse , always ready. Instances that will never pass this way again but no different than any other part of history,really.

 

Bob- Unfortunately, a tradition here. We imported ~150 German WW-1 fighters after WW-1, mostly Fokker D.VIIs, but even two Fokker Dr.I Triplanes. None survived for long. In the entire world, there is not one remaining Fokker Dr.I. A crying shame.

 

Taz, you pointed out something that only an avid WW1 historian would know. I certainly never thought about it even when as a kid, I spent much of my time in the old Smithsonian Aviation Museum. It was nothing but an old Quonset that was jammed full of WW1 airplanes. Original Spad 13, an original D-7, and I believe an original Nieuport. Only the hull of the NC-4 was kept but NO DR-1. It was a sad display where most of it was touchable by the public and , of course, there were names scribbled on them and many holes punched in the fabric. Doolittle's Curtiss racer had a loose horizontal tail from being jiggled by so many visitors. Lindbergh's NYP was hanging in the main foyer of the Smithsonian and all you could see was the bottom of it. I worked a bit with Walt Redfern when he was in Idaho and helped him get the top wing on his D-6 replica but all of his DR-1 replicas were gone. They, of course, were not 100% re-incarnations because they had Warners in them.
You made a really interesting observation. Thanks.

 

Hoot never admitted to anything. I know that his friends at TWA stood firmly behind Hoots version, and to a man they spoke of his great skills. He was an experienced aerobatic pilot , as he demonstrated that night. I believe he was telling the truth when he stated he did not have flaps at 5.

 

Cool. Be nice if it would be profitable for museums to offer flights on big cool jets!

When I was a kid, we did Disneyland often. The airline used 727-100 and then later versions on its Vancouver to Los Angeles route. Starting in the 70's until the mid 80's. Rode in them lots. I feel sorry for the kids today. Back in those days if there wasn't many kids on the plane, 9 times out of 10 you got invited up to the cockpit.