AA 727 Retirement: 10 Year Anniversary.

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American 767
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Posts: 4640
Joined: Wed May 19, 1999 7:27 am

AA 727 Retirement: 10 Year Anniversary.

Tue May 01, 2012 2:12 am

Greetings everyone  

Today, day by day, is now 10 years ago that American Airlines retired its last Boeing 727 aircraft from passenger service. The final revenue flight, which I was on to celebrate the event, occurred on Apr 30th 2002 from TPA to MIA as flight AA765.

American has flown the venerable Boeing 727 continuously for 38 years.


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Photo © Marc Hasenbein



The aircraft shown in the picture, N864AA, was the one scheduled to fly the very final flight.

I invite you to take a look at my Boeing 727 page on my website.

http://ben-boeing727.blogspot.com/

She may be gone but she will always remain in my heart.

Ben Soriano
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N62NA
Posts: 4728
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RE: AA 727 Retirement: 10 Year Anniversary.

Tue May 01, 2012 2:34 am

A very nice salute to the 727. I remember seeing AA's 727s at LGA as a kid - always a very interesting looking airplane.
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lasairlinerenth
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RE: AA 727 Retirement: 10 Year Anniversary.

Tue May 01, 2012 3:22 am

Quoting American 767 (Thread starter):
She may be gone but she will always remain in my heart.

Ben,

Kudos to you for an awesome salute to the AA 727. The very first quartet of 727s I flew on were AA 727-223s from ONT to SYR (via ORD and w/a change of plane there) and return all the way back in July of 1979. Like you, she will always remain in my heart, too. Although I love all of the modern, twenty-first century airliners, a part of me wishes Boeing would have figured out a way to keep the 727 going like they have the redoubtable 737. Ah well. Such is life, as they say.

Regards,
Tony
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flymia
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RE: AA 727 Retirement: 10 Year Anniversary.

Tue May 01, 2012 3:51 am

Wow, I remember watching the last MIA departure forgot the flight number but it was MIA-RDU around 7pm or so. It flew right over my house thankfully. An awesome airplane and thankfully with Amerijet here in MIA there are still a decent amount of 727s at MIA. For how long I am not sure.
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737tdi
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RE: AA 727 Retirement: 10 Year Anniversary.

Tue May 01, 2012 6:30 am

Ben: What a nice repose. The Boeing 727 is (by Crew opinion) the best, fastest aircraft they have ever flown. I have talked to so many former drivers of her, they all say the same. FAST compared to the new stuff. Granted this was 20 years ago but I still think she was the best at high speed coast to coast. She would compare to the best today with the engines of today.

I was involved in the re-engining of the UPS 100 QF's and that was one hell of an airplane.
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United727
Posts: 352
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RE: AA 727 Retirement: 10 Year Anniversary.

Tue May 01, 2012 6:31 am

Don't forget one of AA's former 727's still flies daily as "Aerosur" in Bolivia! It's their last pax 727 still flying.

edited for accuracy

[Edited 2012-04-30 23:35:36]
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United727
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RE: AA 727 Retirement: 10 Year Anniversary.

Tue May 01, 2012 6:50 am



Also for the record, AA's final "non-revenue" flight was 20 Jan 2003 from Mohave to the Museum of Flight in Washington with N874AA. This plane was brought to MoF till their UA 721 was/is ready to take its place in the airpark, due to UA cannibalizing a considerable amount of parts/engines when the ship was donated. The AA ship remians fully intact to this day and was donated completely airworthy at the time of delivery. The engines are are no longer flight-worthy due the PandW engine AD and the plane itself would require a Heavy inspection for future flight.

Photo shared from Bob Bogash's website!!!
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maxpower1954
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RE: AA 727 Retirement: 10 Year Anniversary.

Wed May 02, 2012 2:27 am

Of all the jets I've flown in my 30 plus year career - from the DC-8 to the A320 - the 727 is my absolute favorite.
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SYfan100
Posts: 79
Joined: Wed May 21, 2008 11:11 pm

RE: AA 727 Retirement: 10 Year Anniversary.

Wed May 02, 2012 2:40 am

The 727 has always been a favorite of mine as well!
Look at the number of airlines threw the years that have flown that particular aircraft for regular and just even charter service. It was the backbone of their fleet in all reality for many cases!
Makes you wonder though with how things are today on how many would buy a newer version of the 727 if it were made available again?
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8905348954
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RE: AA 727 Retirement: 10 Year Anniversary.

Wed May 02, 2012 2:45 am

Has it been 10 years already wow...I was on that flight with you American 767 thanks for the memories! Also thanks for the reg, I forgot to log it that evening.....

Andrew
JFK/MEM/MCI/SYR/
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aa777lvr
Posts: 199
Joined: Sat Jan 06, 2007 6:42 am

RE: AA 727 Retirement: 10 Year Anniversary.

Wed May 02, 2012 2:46 am

Working in aircraft routing for AA at the time, I set up N864 to fly the last flight. I enjoyed working the 727 desk. Happy memories of AA and aircraft routing in Tulsa. I wish all the AA'ers the best in the future (post-bankrupcy).

AA777LVR
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deltal1011man
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RE: AA 727 Retirement: 10 Year Anniversary.

Wed May 02, 2012 2:56 am

Quoting United727 (Reply 6):
This plane was brought to MoF till their UA 721 was/is ready to take its place in the airpark, due to UA cannibalizing a considerable amount of parts/engines when the ship was donated.

So what will happen to this 727 then? Or is MoF keeping both?

sure do miss the S-duct Tri-jets running around.   Was such a better time back then.
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727LOVER
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RE: AA 727 Retirement: 10 Year Anniversary.

Wed May 02, 2012 2:57 am

and I was happy to watch N864AA takeoff from TPA
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737tdi
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RE: AA 727 Retirement: 10 Year Anniversary.

Wed May 02, 2012 3:09 am

Quoting aa777lvr (Reply 10):
I wish all the AA'ers the best in the future (post-bankrupcy).





I do as well. Best of happenings fellow airline folks. Pull it out of the hat and move forward.
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TrijetsRMissed
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RE: AA 727 Retirement: 10 Year Anniversary.

Wed May 02, 2012 3:30 am

How I miss the 727, and how great she looked in AA colors... Seems like yesterday ORD was filled with them in AA and UA paint. Together with the DC-10s, it was tri-jet paradise.   

This of course was during the time when ORD was unrivaled as the busiest airport in the world, so there were plenty to go around. I can just picture the line-up of 727s at the concourses. But gradually 727 departures started to dwindle at my hometown airport. First at AA, replaced by MD-80s and later, A320s with UA.

What I'll always remember is the sound of the 727 on climb-out. Perhaps not as steep as other types, but the loud roar of those three JT8D-17s was unmistakable. You didn't even have to look... you knew it was a 727.
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AAIL86
Posts: 521
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RE: AA 727 Retirement: 10 Year Anniversary.

Wed May 02, 2012 3:33 am

I flew the 727 quite a bit as a child/young adult. I remember especially well a 727 flight on DFW-CUN - back when Cancun was a sleepy fishing village with a couple new hotels here and there. Now Cancun is Las Vegas on the beach and my 727 is retired in Seattle. What a solid airplane, though.
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OB1504
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RE: AA 727 Retirement: 10 Year Anniversary.

Wed May 02, 2012 3:34 am

Looks like she even did a fly-by at the Air & Sea Show:


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Photo © Allan Rossmore



Now, both are just memories...
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AAIL86
Posts: 521
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RE: AA 727 Retirement: 10 Year Anniversary.

Wed May 02, 2012 3:35 am

Quoting OB1504 (Reply 16):
Looks like she even did a fly-by at the Air & Sea Show:

Hmmm, I wonder which triple-7 that was? Anybody know?
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United727
Posts: 352
Joined: Sat Nov 13, 2010 1:26 am

RE: AA 727 Retirement: 10 Year Anniversary.

Wed May 02, 2012 7:07 am

Quoting DeltaL1011man (Reply 11):
So what will happen to this 727 then? Or is MoF keeping both?

Last year, during the failed attempt to get the Delta ship up and running, a person very close to the MoF said they had 'no need for both". Whatever that means, 874AA STILL HAS POTENTIAL! Whether anyone has the money to do anything with it remains unknown....Certainly not I!!!!! The UA 721 has a fairly good amount left to repair and replace before its ferry flight anyway! Additionally, the FAA and its A.D. on the JT8D's would only allow 4-8 years of flying time on even fresh engines before a mandated OH/Heavy Inspection, unless they would allow an exception!?!?!
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