I saw a re-engined -100 with winglets in Málaga a couple of times and it
looked awesome. It looked like a Ferrari.
I had the pleasure of flying a full Valsan conversion 727-200 once. A very impressive aircraft. The only problem was that even with a fairly heavy load you could out climb the wing. I've talked to the crew of a corporate Valsan converted 727-100 and if I had not had the experience of flying the 200 version of the mod, I would have called them liars about what they told me the -100 can perform with the mod.
I used to fly the lead sleds, you know the ones I'm talking about.., the ones with the -9s on em
I know what you are talking about, trust me. Now the -100 did just fine with the -9 engines. However, we leased a former Air France 200 with -7 engines. Yes, I didn't know that Boeing built any -200s with -7 engines either, but they sure did. We were told that the reason that Air France ordered the -7 engines installed was because they were using these particular 727s as a in-country commuter type operation and would never have to carry much fuel. Now if that is true or not I don't know. What I do know is that even on a cool day with a full passenger load that thing used up runway on takeoff. Didn't climb worth a damn either and you better be happy to accept an initial altitude in the mid 20s for the first hour or so, because that was all you were going to get. Now that I think about it, I cannot recall ever getting above 31.0 in the blasted thing.
Also I've had a few takeoffs at Denver in the summer time with a standard -200 that made me wonder if we would clear the runway lights at the end of the runway. It seemed as if I could get up just after brake release, go back to the galley, get a cup of coffee and get back into my seat just in time to rotate.