Tb727 From United States, joined Jun 2005, 668 posts, RR: 0 Posted (3 weeks 1 day 13 hours 43 minutes ago) and read 4118 times:
Well week 1 as an FO on the 727 is over for me. I absolutely love flying the airplane and took a couple pictures of my adventures to share. Routing for the last week was YIP-LRD-MGM-FNT-YIP-LRD-MMGL-LRD-ILG-YIP-LRD-LIT-FNT-YIP-RDU-LRD-MMIO-LRD-GRR-YIP. It took these with my iPhone so they aren't super good, but hey, it's rare!
The flight deck
Stairway to heaven
Out the cargo door waiting on freight
Our freight, cylinder heads
Offloading in FNT
Loading up in MMGL
24,000 pounds of Blackberry Storm 2's!
We can go fast!
22 Diesel Semi truck engines
Flaps 25 and spoilers up
Out pretty much the only window in the back
Like I said, I love this airplane. I've been wanting to fly the 727 since I was 5 and never thought I would when they started disappearing from the skies but here I am! The takeoffs are a little different and I was surprised how well I could land it but it's not that easy to grease them on. Once it is in the air it is a dream to fly with great handling characteristics. Hope you enjoyed a quick look inside the freight dogging world! OOTSK
PlaneHunter From Germany, joined Mar 2006, 3159 posts, RR: 71 Reply 4, posted (3 weeks 1 day 6 hours 58 minutes ago) and read 3687 times:
Very interesting report, quite unusual to find anything about cargo carriers here. I also like the 727, too bad there aren't many options left to fly on the type as a passenger.
Burj From United States, joined Nov 2007, 143 posts, RR: 0 Reply 8, posted (3 weeks 19 hours 52 minutes ago) and read 3069 times:
Oh WOW...thanks for sharing... So does it have a bathroom on there for the pilots to use? I heard about one cargo airline that expected pilots to use pouches so they could remove the bathrooms to save weight...
Eddy From Germany, joined Nov 2009, 7 posts, RR: 0 Reply 9, posted (3 weeks 18 hours 16 minutes ago) and read 2994 times:
Thank you so much for sharing your experiences on the 727 here. It was a real pleasure to read your report and see that there are places where 727 still go strong.
Mtaabq From United States, joined Oct 2009, 15 posts, RR: 0 Reply 14, posted (2 weeks 6 days 19 hours 43 minutes ago) and read 2376 times:
Oh, Lord. That takes me back over 30 years to my very first commercial flight, a CO 727 ABQ-ORD pre-deregulation. I have to agree with a previous poster that it's nice to see TR reports -- any TR reports -- for the 727 as their ranks are dwindling. Thanks for posting and thanks for the memories.
Tb727 From United States, joined Jun 2005, 668 posts, RR: 0 Reply 15, posted (2 weeks 6 days 19 hours 33 minutes ago) and read 2372 times:
Quoting Mtaabq (Reply 14): Thanks for posting and thanks for the memories.
No problem! Walking back and taking the pic out the window was a very familiar view from my childhood flying non-rev on NW all the time on them. I always loved sitting over or right behind the wing to watch the incredible flaps on this airplane. We are limited to Flaps 25/28 landings so you don't get the full effect, but it is still super cool. The cool thing about it is that we just bought another 727 so our fleet has grown to 5 Someday they will be gone but I am glad I got my chance to fly a piece of history.
Tb727 From United States, joined Jun 2005, 668 posts, RR: 0 Reply 17, posted (2 weeks 6 days 17 hours 14 minutes ago) and read 2282 times:
Quoting HermansCVR580 (Reply 16): Would you know who any of the previous operators were of your 727's? I thought that one of the Kalitta birds was Eastern and another was Northwest?
No NW birds but one is an old Eastern plane. The new one was Astar/DHL and formerly of Continental. The other ones are Royal Air Maroc and Tunis Air. As you probably know, the DC-9 used to have Herman painted on the tail and yes, we still have it and it's actually out flying right now! It's been nice and busy lately.
Aleksandar From Serbia, joined Jul 2000, 2994 posts, RR: 35 Reply 18, posted (2 weeks 21 hours 14 minutes ago) and read 1536 times:
Wooow, this is a TR I thought I never see again Fantastic plane, always had wonderful flights on it and to behonest, I envy you. Will you give me a free ride if I visit the US?
BZNPilot From United States, joined Feb 2006, 95 posts, RR: 0 Reply 22, posted (1 week 6 days 15 hours 19 minutes ago) and read 1115 times:
Wow, a real pleasure to see a 727 report; also nice to see a cargo report, which is not something that comes along very often on this forum. PLEASE post more of your 727 trips in the future, I know your efforts will be appreciated by many on Airliners.net!
Tb727 From United States, joined Jun 2005, 668 posts, RR: 0 Reply 23, posted (1 week 6 days 4 hours 4 minutes ago) and read 963 times:
Quoting BZNPilot (Reply 22): PLEASE post more of your 727 trips in the future, I know your efforts will be appreciated by many on Airliners.net!
Sure, I'll see what I can do! I don't start my line for a couple more days but I will get a TR when something cool pops up. I wish I would have done more in the past when I was flying part 135.
Quoting HermansCVR580 (Reply 20): Thats is excellent!!!! If you would like I got paint and a paintbrush I can put Herman back on the tail for you guys Smile
The color scheme that you guys have kinda reminds me of the Repbulic "Mary Tyle Moore" scheme.
Yeah, now that you mention that, it does look like that! Our tails are a little blah, a Herman would look nice! lol