aviation

Flights ran mostly from Pittsburgh, Louisville
and Philadelphia, to destinations such as
Miami, Bermuda, Orlando, Cancun, Aruba
and Barbados. Due to the short range of
the 727-100, some trips needed a fuel stop,
such as Boston to Aruba, which included
40 minutes on the ground at Orlando for a
gas-and-go.
Despite being a leisure/charter affair,
service included hot meals and free alcohol in
light with a hot towel service during descent.
The interiors were intended to be
interchangeable, but in fact each fuselage
was a slightly different shape – manufacturing
tolerances on 1960s aeroplanes were not
what they are today, plus a few decades of
light had taken their toll. Aircraft were having
to be ferried to be reunited with ‘their’ QC
interior, so it was decided to leave them
permanently in full passenger coniguration
all week. The sub leet was proitable, and
pilots liked the trips, but using the 727s to ly
boxes was more proitable. So, after half a
decade, the ive jets were returned to cargo
hauling for the remainder of their lives.
Valsan Partners developed the ‘Quiet
727’ in the 1980s by undertaking work to
quieten the middle engine, remove the thrust
reversers and it higher bypass and more
efficient JT8D-217/219s.

In 1996, Rohr revived the Vaslan upgrade

(the latter company having gone out of

business) this time calling it the ‘Super

27’. Rohr was merged with BF Goodrich

in December 1997 and continued the

programme. Twenty-ive aircraft in total went

through the upgrade.

MILITARY USERS

Unlike its big brother the 707, the 727 didn’t

prove to be particularly appealing to military

users. The USAF had four -100s, lown

under the C-22B designation, and a single

-200/C-22C. The Royal New Zealand Air

Force (RNZAF) acquired three former United

examples in 1981, and the type served for

over two decades. Other nations that used

the 727 in small numbers included Ecuador,

Congo and Mexico (the type is still operated

by this country’s Federal Police).

At the turn of the century, leets of 727s

were ageing but still going strong in the same

niches they had been dominating since the

end of the 1960s. Retirement plans were

made, and orders for 737s placed.

With the downturn in travel and economic

activity following the terrorist attacks of

September 11, 2001, those plans were put

into action with immediate effect. Within a year

of 9/11, the 727 had virtually vanished from

frontline service (and trijets in general, as the

DC-10 and TriStar suffered an identical fate).

A few operators pressed on with the

727: Challenge Air, American Trans Air and

Planet Airways in the US and Sabre Airways

in the UK.

A British operator of the Super 27 was

Cougar Airlines. It started lying in 2001 with

three of the type, one with a high-density 185-

seat passenger interior and two freighters on

charter lights. The venture lasted two years,

closing its doors in 2003.

Latin and South American carriers used

727s as freighters. The last major accidents

to befall the type involved overloaded aircraft

running out of runway on take-off (according

to official accident reports). Union des

Transports Aériens de Guinée (UTAGE) light

141 on Christmas Day 2003 with the loss

of 141 lives out of 163 aboard in Benin, and

Aerosucre 4544 on December 20, 2016 with

the loss of ive of the six crew in Colombia.

Other late-era 727 operators included First

Air in Canada’s north, that provided essential

services to remote places such as Resolute

Bay and Nanisivik in the province of Nunavut

(same size as Mexico, population 35,000).

The last two were parked in 2009. Kalitta

Air, a US air freight carrier, retains a handful

including a specialised equine transporter

http://www.aviation-news.co.uk 67

The RNZAF operated the

727 for more than 20 years,

retiring the type in July 2003.

Boeing’s 727 proved to be a popular choice for VIP aircraft operators. This example, A9C-BA, is lown by the Bahrain Royal Flight.