Boeing 727 Prototype Final Flight

Hatu

Veteran
Aug 20, 2002
645
132
MIA
The Museum of Flight is in the final countdown of finishing a 25-year effort restoring the historic, first Boeing 727 and flying it to the Museum for permanent exhibition. This unique jet has not been airborne since it was donated to the Museum by United Air Lines in 1991...

https://www.museumofflight.org/727-final-flight
 
Such a shame they did all that work just to park it... Would have been great to see a goodwill tour.

One of my hobbies is volunteering at a railroad museum. We'd never find donors or volunteers to do a one-time effort like that. Some of the stuff we've restored is almost 100 years old, and has thousands of restoration hours into it. The payback is being able to see it move & carry people again after being written off as just a display piece or scrap.
 
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My first job as a mech was on a 727-100 for a travel club in DTW called Nomads.
 
They went BK a couple years ago. It was a cool job.
 
320px-Boeing_727-30C%2C_Nomads_JP5865894.jpg

 
It was a very clean well maintained aircraft.
 
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I got to work a couple of 727 flights out of DFW right after I started flying in 2000.  Wonderful airplane to fly on and work on.
The 727-200 was great to work on. I knew it was time for them to retire, but sad when they went. On the other hand, I was real glad when American retired the 727-100. The 727-100 was getting so old and grimy I once had to get maintenance to bring a screw driver so we could unhinge the girt bar from the bracket on arrival, it was so gunked up. Also, the bumping butts galley was a nightmare to work.
 
My first job as a mech was on a 727-100 for a travel club in DTW called Nomads.
 
They went BK a couple years ago. It was a cool job.
 
320px-Boeing_727-30C%2C_Nomads_JP5865894.jpg

 
It was a very clean well maintained aircraft.
Googled Nomads. Interesting concept. Thanks for the picture.
 
Hatu said:
Googled Nomads. Interesting concept. Thanks for the picture.
 
They got rid of the 100 and bought a 200 from the Eastern BK after I left. We had 20 minute alternate airport time issues when flying to Hawaii and the 200 had enough fuel capacity to do it. To keep weight within the alternate time frame, they kept the same seat numbers as the 100, but added a passenger lounge area where the extra seating was.