A nice thing about the 727 is that you can go down and slow down. This is just at idle thrust with no speed brakes being used. One can be at 250 knots and intercepting the glideslope at say 5000 feet and just slow down while using the slow speed trim switch(don't you miss that switch) and start configuring. Of course then you have your 10 spoiler panels that can be used for descent as well(compared to just four on the 737-200 and no slow speed trim switch). I heard of one guy being at full flap and gear down at 320K(max gear down speed) as he was quite high and apparently it was really noisy with a big descent rate.
737 guys thought their aircraft were so great because they were comparing it to the turboprops they flew previously, but 727 guys didn't thin much about the two-holer with its main gear seeming to wander as you rolled down the runway(what cause that again, some sort of damper). We had 737's with gravel kits and a 180 knot gear speed and a slow cruise speed. As one former 727 driver said: on the 737 you fly around slowly all day and when you finally get to destination, you can't slow down.
The 727 wing was a thing of beauty when clean and then seemed to slowly come apart into this incredible high lift device for landing with 40 degrees flap viewed from the side making it appear as if the wing was close to a full half circle. The 14 spoilers killed all that lift. I flew as a pax a lot on it and I always loved watching the flaps come out. I also liked the look of LED's 2,3,6, and 7 being the first ones to extend on the leading edge. It just looked kind of cool and the speedbrakes would be tested during the initial taxi out as well. Nosegear brakes added to stopping capability if you had them.
The tail is a thing of beauty with its sweepback and look. Like the DC-9, you might end up having to listen to unsynced engines, especially in the climb. I tried to sync them up in cruise as I thought I could barely feel the sensation of unsynced engines. As a pax, you would hear those engine on approach in the back much more than any wing mounted engine although the 737-200 was annoying loud for the rear pax on takeoff and climb. 727 engine noise seemed more enjoyable as a pax. As for the pilots, it was nice and quiet in the cockpit for a silent engine start and taxi our with the loudest sound being the altimeter vibrator. Mind you, it seemed quite loud if the side window was opened so I suppose the glass was fairly thick. Adding thrust for takeoff just made the air conditioning airflow increase. You would be on initial climbout with it still being nice and quiet. That all changed at 250 knots in the climb though.I heard a few compressor stalls. Fairly quiet in the cockpit but quite loud as a pax.