Interesting. They said how much it cost, to restore, but not what it cost new.
One commercial pilot told me his favorite aircraft was the 727 since it required more operator skills. Kinda like what a manual transmission auto vs. an automatic sort of analogy.
The 727 required a 3rd officer flight engineer too.
I turned a lot of bolts on that a/c ... its a tank
I didn’t think they had 727’s in 1963. Thought it was all 707’s.
That makes me sad. My first flight ever was on a 727. Fond memory.
I was on the flight of that plane on Jan 13, 1991 into San Francisco. I remember it wasn’t very full - I had a whole row to myself. I had no idea about the plane or what was going to happen - something I’ll never forget and have talked about many times since.
After we were at cruise, the Captain came on and welcomed us and then said he was going to tell us a story. That single story lasted almost ten minutes as he talked the whole time.
He told us about a boy. A boy who was in love with airplanes. A boy whose father took him to (I think) the St. Louis airport in (I think) 1963. They went to see a new plane - an amazing new jet with three engines. The boy held his father’s hand and watched, in awe, as the plane landed.
The boy grew up, but never lost his love of airplanes. He became a pilot and eventually a captain for United Airlines.
The pilot then said, “As you might have guessed, that boy was me, but what you might not have known is that the plane I saw that day was this one - the first 727.”
My jaw dropped. There wasn’t a sound in the cabin. Even the flight attendants were standing still, listening.
He then said, this is the last day for this plane. It’ll go on one more flight, but after that, it’ll be sent to a museum. ‘
‘He apologized for talking so long. When the PA was quiet, everyone on the plane applauded.
Very good chance that my late father had captained that particular bird.
The first airplane I ever flew on was a 727 the day I joined the Air Force.
“It flew 64,495 hours”
Wheels up for over seven years.
Of all the planes I’ve flown, I loved flying on 727s.