"Opportunity is missed by most people because it comes dressed in overalls and looks like work." -- Thomas Edison
Cant wait to have a giant FedEx billboard at Merrill Field for the remaining life of that obsolete aluminum POS. I would trade the rotting AN2 eye sore for this thing any day.
LMAO!! Gotta agree. Think of the
one could produce
"Opportunity is missed by most people because it comes dressed in overalls and looks like work." -- Thomas Edison
Get "Iflylower" to drive it in there.
......Mike
WHAT?! Surely you jest! If not the most beautiful airliner ever made it's certainly high on the list. One of the best transport category jets...EVER.Originally Posted by Alaska_Rallyer
I think I understand why you don't want it at Merrill Field...jets don't really belong. But POS? No sirree. A wonderful, manual airplane.
Aviationinfo
I thought I read somewhere that they plan to repaint it once it gets there...
no... the assembly members approving the landing deviation suggested that...
727 is a sweet airplane, classic airliner. What's the beef?
Grizzly bears are beautiful too but I don't want one in my living room or front yard. That will stick out like a giant sore thumb. It just does not belong at that historical place. That ugly Antonov is disgusting already.
Yup POS!!
Student- Uhhhh hey Fed EX i graduated UAA with my A&P license and have experience turning ON the master switch on a 727 and writing a report all about it can i have a job?
Fed EX- I regret to inform you young lad we quit operating those back in 2013 and made a killing on our taxes donating them to schools all over the USA. Come back in ten years when you have some practical experience working on equipment that we actually operate at this company. Thank you have a sucker.
Should be a great show im going to be out filming every second of it! Hey when was the last time these pilots landed one of these things empty on a 4000ft runway with 20ft snow berms and zero threshold or overrun? Oh and icy as F usually.
Maybe we could staple the Welcome to Anchorage sign on this thing and give all the homeless that live underneath it a shelter. Then they could replant all the trees they had to cut down in the homeless camp at the entrance of Merrill. haha i can see it now....
Pictures 002.jpgCub Junkie, circa 1990. I have a soft spot for 727's since I flew them for 13 years. Used to fly one into Hot Springs, Arkansas with a payload on a 6100 ft runway so I wouldn't hesitate a bit to try 4000 ft with a lightweight airplane. Just drag it in with 40 degrees flaps. Most 727's have the 40 degree gate blocked on the console but you can put the last ten degrees out electricly. The 727 made a lot of pilots, great airplane. When you see one now its almost like seeing a DC3 or C46. They still fly 'em around the middle east quite a bit.
Last edited by Cub junkie; 02-22-2013 at 05:20 AM.
This is a touch-n-go on 2100 ft of grass.
IMG_0001.jpg
Alaska Rallyer please be sure to post the vid here. Frankly I don't think it'll be that big of a deal to get it down and stopped, I bet the ref speed is very low at that weight. Fun duty.
Aviationinfo
dragging it in at Meigs with full flaps...
Dirt and 727's...
Love this runway!
Then there's this East German activity...
Last edited by Cubus Maximus; 02-22-2013 at 06:07 PM.
Cool videos. landing on grass, nice. Well the last one was a little scary.
and no chirp chirp when they touch down ..???
Yes, I'm an Oenophilia. And I VOTE...!!
I can hear it now ...
N43121: Merrill Tower, Tcraft 43121, Moose Run golf course, with Foxtrot, inbound for ski strip, runway 23.
Tower: Taylorcraft 43121, make straight in, runway 25 for 23, cleared to land, traffic 2 o'clock 3 miles, Boeing 727 on right downwind for 25, will not be a factor.
N43121: 121, cleared to land 23, traffic in sight.
FedEx 12345: Tower, FedEx 45, reporting Clark Junior High.
Tower: FedEx Heavy 45, extend downwind, number 2 for landing behind the Taylorcraft, ..... caution, wake turbulence.
FedEx 12345: FedEx 45, extending.
... Rod
sorry its sideways, was yacking and almost forgot to record it....
pass #2
pass #1
Last edited by mike mcs repair; 02-26-2013 at 08:12 PM.
Lotsa folks showed up for the cool arrival. That guy was smooth.
We were adjacent to "K" in your clip, betting on where wheels would touch.
Next 727 arrival I'll bet wheel touch before the sign. Lost me 25 cents.
Dwayne
this guy caught a great photo over the numbers
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fb...6537320&type=1
I wasn't able to open the photo. Was I cheated? That's one-fifth of a coffee.
Here's a clip Russ S passed along.
Last edited by SJ; 03-04-2013 at 07:12 AM.
And another view from the Reeve's parking lot. Lots of people and they couldn't have picked a nicer day.
It looked like he made it in under 3000 feet.
Hey the ol' Antonov is long gone from there and it now being restored in Sutton...
The 727 or "3 holer" is a REALLY GOOD honest plane and " If it aint Boeing I am not going" is for me at least as far as Airbus goes...
Regards'
Kind of sad when an airplane makes it's last flight. Sometimes we don't know it and other times we know the airplane will not fly again. I have taken those old 727's to the desert to never fly again, never liked doing that.Thanks for posting the clips.
another reason I have mixed feelings visiting aviation museums (mausoleums) ...
I'm with you on the museum thing, Cubus Maximus. It is very good that folks preserve things but soooo much better to see things in action. At my age keeping moving is VERY inportant......geezer Dan
Fedex was very generous to not only donate two operational 727s to the Alaska University system but they also paid to relocate them. The University now has some big iron for their aviation departments to study, work on, and learn from. That's a great example of a prominent corporation supporting local education. Everybody wins. Bravo Fedex. You Fedex guys current and retired should be proud.
maybe some of you old guys rember when the first 707 landed at anc everyone in town was there. when you pulled up to the airport the tail was towering over the building it was huge i can rember my dad saying look at the size of that sob. he worked at merril at that time, the good old days
Here is the story about the plane FedEx delivered to Fairbanks: http://www.newsminer.com/news/local_...9bb30f31a.html
I'm not sure how someone can gripe about this. They are donating a half million dollar plane so more people can get trained in aviation and there is no tax break for them, as stated in the article (not that people understand tax breaks anyway.) The fact that they have become such a success while competing with the government backed post office makes it all the better. FedEx is one of the GREAT American success stories, we should be proud we have companies that donate like this. Thank you FedEx!
A few facts: 727 guys will know this and more, but the rest may find it interesting.
The 727 was developed as the fastest shortfield performer available. I read sometime ago that the plane was designed for the short 5,800ish runways of LaGuardia and Regan National. The plane originally even had Nose wheel brakes, but you never see those anymore. I've never seen them, and I'm not sure how long it lasted. The engines were fuselage mounted to keep the wing as pure as possible. As mentioned, the flaps go to 40, but most carriers block at 30, to keep reasonable landing qualities, drop ins and damage happen fast with that much drag.
Airliners post 727 are built with much less sweep in the wings. Dutch roll, crosswind landings and super nasty stall characteristics plague the sweep. Airliners today sweep less to get rid of the bad, but retain most of the helpful characteristics.
Those flaps n slats are incredible, I'll post a pic if I can find it in my collection.
Outboard and inboard ailerons. Outboard ones are locked out, except for flaps down, then progressively more available with more flap. Roll spoilers and ground spoilers. Touchdown and pull spoilers, you're done flying. Period. Cub could use them.
The 727 would be in no jeapordy of retirement were in not for pure jets on the tail vice bypass fans (mucho dinosaur burners) ((fuel burn is similar to a WIDEBODY that carries twice the payload)). And three future pensions taking up space in the cockpit vice two like most airliners.
The plane is rugged and tough, will take punishment and save you from yourself. Guys tell of the old days of 250kts+ to the marker and adding power to land. Clean planes of today would never pull that off within normal envelope.
Im pretty sure I see lots of 4,300 ft max braking numbers (without reverse thrust computed in) at nearly all weights.
The 4,000 ft runway at Merrill had to look awfully strange and damn short in the windscreen.
Elect fans cool the packs when slow and on the ground. Fan air cools them. Excess oil heat warms fuel. Excess cold in fuel cools engine oil. Fuel can be heated with bleed air too. Fuel tank cools the electric b system hydraulic pumps. Flaps are hydraulic, back up elec. Hydraulics are electric and engine driven. Brakes are hydraulic, with hydraulic back up, and full back up pneumatic brakes. Flight controls (aieleron, elevator, rudder) are hydraulic from engine driven (2pumps), electric, (2pumps), 1 reserve stby elec pump, and cable back up. The rudder is in two halves, the upper rudder on system b hydraulics and the Lower rudder on system A hyds, with stby hyd backup. Pressurization has an auto controller, a manual controller, a standby ac system and standby dc system with two separate outflow valves (some four?). Every gear has two wheels for redundancy. Gear is hydraulic with two pumps and back up hand crank down for each gear. Stabilizer is trimable with a fast motor, a slow(cruise) motor, and two hand trim wheels. All three engines have a elec generator that can be bus tied together or operated independently.
The 727 was designed with the same fuselage sections and many spare/same parts as the 707.
Fedex can auto-land these dinosaurs with 600RVR(600 ft of Vis or 1/10th of a mile) and see to land at 50ft AGL. Your cub has better navigation. Every FedEx has GPS to run the worldwide terrain database for GPWS. "pull up! Pull up!" for that mountain in front of you, but no GPS to navigate around it. VOR and "heading vector" equipped, except for a few 727's FedEx uses in South America with first generation FMS.
The 727-100 was a .90mach airplane and the 727-200 a .88 plane. I Loved flying the 100's, they flew and landed like one thinks of a light cub. They've been gone 10ish plus years, and I've been through a couple types and back to 727. Miss those underpowered speedsters.
All the FedEx 727's should be gone in the next 18 months. They've been saying that for 10 years, but they're down to the last 16 of more than 210-220 at one time. FedEx was the largest operator of the 727 and bought among others the last one made by Boeing.
Someone said donate a newer plane. Well, those are making money and noone's donating a newer plane that can make $$$$, or be sold for $$$$. And also, the 727 has the same hydraulics, same pressurization, accesory drives, same type elects, etc. all without being computer driven. Wanna adjust the throttle linkages on a 27? Get your tool bag, job card and start. Do it on a 777? Get your screwdriver, undo the four screws to the throttle computer, pull canon plug replace computer. Done. While maybe not exactly correct, you get the idea.
Im glad FedEx can make something work out or our abomination of a tax code.
I hope the planes continue to make new aviation professionals for years to come. Please feel free to add to my list of 727 characteristics. I'm not the foremost expert, probably even made a mistake, but I enjoy interesting reading - I hope you do too.
"If you put the Federal Government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in 5 years there'd be a shortage of sand." - Milton Friedman
"If you put the Federal Government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in 5 years there'd be a shortage of sand." - Milton Friedman
Good review Iflylower,
The nose wheel brake only worked with maximum brake application. Therefor they were seldom actuated and became a dead weight and maintenance headache. So they were removed. They reduced the required runway length by a small amount.
Didn't someone come up with a cockpit redo which eliminated the F/E seat? I thought that it was Fedex?
Also, when above 250kts the wind noise in the cockpit is so loud that you can't hear yourself think. This was particularly noticeable in the "before David Clark" years. My ears are still ringing all these years later. When Boeing built the 757 the corners of the windshield were rounded which reduced the noise tremendously.
Northeast Airlines (remember the Yellow Birds?) bought the first -200. Their plane was used for the flight tests.
N1PA
Good post Iflylower. Almost like going to recurrent GS. I remember saturday morning cruise data, out of the hub and wanting to make destination for that J/S to get home till monday night. Yup, .84 was pretty loud in the 727. I never had the pleasure of flying any 727 with dash 15 or 17 power. ATA also had some serial #'s very close to the end of production.
Particularly when the nose gear doors started to vibrate and bang on the fuselage.
N1PA
Thank you Boeing drivers for the postings. As a airport fence junkie I always thought the 727 was the neatest airplane as airliners go. It's fun to learn a little about the inner workings/characteristics of the aircraft. It sounds like the 727 ought to be given honorary "Cub" status here on sc.org like Huskies and such (maybe it belongs over on the "short wing" site). Someone should make a list.
Thanks Cubus, that was the best video with vantage yet.
Skywagon8a, thanks for the info on the nose wheel brakes. That clears up that mystery. The three to two you're talking about refers to changing the three pilot dc-10's to two pilot md-10's. A few advantages there, even though FedEx spent a ton on engineering. The md-11 already existed and was an advanced and larger form of the dc-10. The md-10 and md-11 are a common type now, although they fly and land a bit differently. FedEx had al the cockpits reengineered to match the md-11 pretty closely.
Common FedEx lore/history says the company tried to change the 727 cockpit and make it two pilot. FedEx developed a simulator as a concept. Everything worked except crews managing fuel balance in the three tanks while dumping, or running on just two or one engine. They just couldn't pass it with the FAA. And, those fuel balances can get gamey even when it's one guys job (with engineer), let along having the f/o (in presumed two pilot) try to balance and dump fuel, shut down and secure engines, test fire warnings, talk on radio, run checklists, download electrics, gather landing info, and monitor the capt flying. It didn't work. Fuel balance was the key.
Lastly, Boeing for all they're wonderful qualities, are not quiet. The 727 is loud! But, all the Boeings are loud compared to our reasonably quiet Airbusses and really quiet MD's. I always thought it was absence of insulation, but window shapes make sense. Whatever the case, noise canceling is nice.
Forgot to say the first time flying the 727 is almost as fun as a cub. I'm off to the small airport.
"If you put the Federal Government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in 5 years there'd be a shortage of sand." - Milton Friedman
[/Quote] the f/o (in presumed two pilot) try to balance and dump fuel, shut down and secure engines, test fire warnings, talk on radio, run checklists, download electrics, gather landing info, and monitor the capt flying. It didn't work. Fuel balance was the key.[/QUOTE]
Especially when the F/Os job up to that point was "pitot heat, what's to eat?"
Bob D
My friend Ray Gould who's pretty Pa11 shows up in some of my pictures worked for Eastern and flew 727s out of NYC to St Thomas when it was still a one way 4650' runway with a big hill at the end. He loved the plane.
Glenn
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