Mutt,
As a passenger, I always thought that the 727-200 was an excellent aircraft to fly in - especially if seated near the front.
Before they received their A320's, I used to fly a lot on Qatar's Boeing 727-200s from Doha to Dubai, Abu Dhabi, etc..........
Sitting in row 1 of the 727 (as well as the excellent service on board - heh heh - I had to get that bit in) was an awesome experience.
In fact, take off roll (and of course landing) was eerily quiet, due to the rear mounted engines, and the rate of climb seemed to be much shallower than modern types somehow. It was stange sitting here because there appeared to be more noise from the wheels below going over bumps on the tarmac, than there was from the engines. Great flights.
Always a stable aircraft in flight and rarely troubled by turbulence.
One of the best experiences I had was back in 1999, when I turned up at Doha for a flight to Amman or Beirut (can't quite remember). We were advised of a slight delay, because the A320 operating the flight had gone tech., and they were substituting the aircraft.
Imagine my surprise when we were bussed out to A7-ABG, one of the retired B727's that had been brought back into service for the day. All logos were painted out and only the grey/white remained.
Great flight and all on board (cabin crew and cockpit) re-lived this little bit of nostalgia........it was nice.
My Goodness.........did I just ramble on a bit there.......sorry.