Federal Express Boeing 727
The Boeing 727, the second most successful airliner to date (eclipsed only by the Boeing 737 series), came about as a result of a compromise between United, American, and Eastern Airlines on a fuel-efficient aircraft able to operate from smaller, higher airports and on short-range overwater routes.
The three airlines settled on a three-engined design, with two engines mounted in the rear and the third in the tail itself. This freed up the entire wing for lift-enhancement flaps and slats, giving the 727 an extremely efficient wing design for short-field landing; since it retained the basic fuselage design of the 707, it could still carry a fairly large number of passengers into airports previously only able to take smaller aircraft and consequently smaller amounts of passengers. For operations from comparatively primitive airports, internal rear-mounted airstairs were added, as well as an APU. Pilots liked the 727's handling characteristics, though it took some time to get used to its relatively high landing speed and sink rate.
The 727-100 was instantly popular, but Boeing soon introduced the lengthened 727-200, which proved to be the baseline aircraft. Eventually 1831 were produced; about a third of that number continue in service today, mostly as cargo variants. 727s began to be withdrawn from service due to the costs of maintaining them, the noise of the aircraft, and the presence of a flight engineer, whose services can be duplicated by computers in the 21st Century. Nine are on public display.
This 727-200 flew its entire passenger career with Braniff International Airways as N470BN, from 1979 to 1989. In 1990, it was converted to a freighter version as N494FE, and flew with Federal Express until 2013. As FedEx retired its 727 fleet, N494FE was donated to the Rocky Mountain Emergency Service Training Center at Helena, Montana as a ground instructional airframe for firefighters. It is named "Ebony"; a former Delta CRJ200 parked to the left (out of frame) is named "Ivory."
I spotted the tail of N494FE while getting some shots of firefighting aircraft at Helena in August 2019. This was as close as I could get to her; the purple tail left no doubt as to which airline this aircraft used to fly for! Note the F-16 fuselage in the right background.
Federal Express Boeing 727
The Boeing 727, the second most successful airliner to date (eclipsed only by the Boeing 737 series), came about as a result of a compromise between United, American, and Eastern Airlines on a fuel-efficient aircraft able to operate from smaller, higher airports and on short-range overwater routes.
The three airlines settled on a three-engined design, with two engines mounted in the rear and the third in the tail itself. This freed up the entire wing for lift-enhancement flaps and slats, giving the 727 an extremely efficient wing design for short-field landing; since it retained the basic fuselage design of the 707, it could still carry a fairly large number of passengers into airports previously only able to take smaller aircraft and consequently smaller amounts of passengers. For operations from comparatively primitive airports, internal rear-mounted airstairs were added, as well as an APU. Pilots liked the 727's handling characteristics, though it took some time to get used to its relatively high landing speed and sink rate.
The 727-100 was instantly popular, but Boeing soon introduced the lengthened 727-200, which proved to be the baseline aircraft. Eventually 1831 were produced; about a third of that number continue in service today, mostly as cargo variants. 727s began to be withdrawn from service due to the costs of maintaining them, the noise of the aircraft, and the presence of a flight engineer, whose services can be duplicated by computers in the 21st Century. Nine are on public display.
This 727-200 flew its entire passenger career with Braniff International Airways as N470BN, from 1979 to 1989. In 1990, it was converted to a freighter version as N494FE, and flew with Federal Express until 2013. As FedEx retired its 727 fleet, N494FE was donated to the Rocky Mountain Emergency Service Training Center at Helena, Montana as a ground instructional airframe for firefighters. It is named "Ebony"; a former Delta CRJ200 parked to the left (out of frame) is named "Ivory."
I spotted the tail of N494FE while getting some shots of firefighting aircraft at Helena in August 2019. This was as close as I could get to her; the purple tail left no doubt as to which airline this aircraft used to fly for! Note the F-16 fuselage in the right background.