Last 727 flght for AAE

[727ace]

the 31st of December was the last flight of the 727 with AAE. VH-VLI (aka vh-ana) has now been removed from service and is awaiting sale as is VH-VLH . This now leave VH-DHE as the last remaining operational aircraft left on the register

RIP three holer!!!

[Timber]

Maybe a good opportunity for HeavyLift to expand their fleet of JT8 powered aircraft?

[3 Holer]

You won't get rid of me that easy ace !

[sthaussiepilot]

:( Sad not to see the old girl flying around with AAE anymore

[Worrals in the wilds]

Midnight's not the same 'round here with no Thumper :sad:

I miss jets that sound like jets rather than vacuum cleaners.

[Blue Carpet]

Toll will be happy....

[teresa green]

Though I might be a few years from doing my last circuit, the postings here and on the DC9 blog, make me grateful that these fine A/C won't be forgotten by you young turks. Dinosaurs they may be now, compared to what you fellas fly, but they were bloody beautiful A/C and a privilege to fly them.

[Worrals in the wilds]

you young turks

The first jet aircraft I ever paxed on was a 727 (Ansett) to Sydney as a very small person (the kiddy pack had a guide to boeing aircraft and a magic marker) and I still remember the flight better than Sydney... guess I was doomed to end up in the aviation game :\

[Sand dune Sam]

teresa green...dont hold back my freind, how about you regale us with some fine anecdotes.

[Skystar320]

you young turks

What happens if we are englishmen like myseld teresa? I thought we supposed to be a multicultural society? :=:=:=:=:=

[Skystar320]

Maybe a good opportunity for HeavyLift to expand their fleet of JT8 powered aircraft

I've heard [can be proven wrong] most of there aircraft are sitting on the ground doing nothing?

[teresa green]

Skystar, merely a term of endearment!. I refuse to use the term "guys" I am not a yank, a young Australian to me is a bloke or a young turk, females are chicks or sheila's, not broads. If you want to be a young Pom feel free! Forgive me, Its my age!:)

[Skystar320]

No-taken... I must admit I never had been called a young turk before, however I know of the sheilas & chicks!

Happy sailing!

[genex]

All the DC-9 stuff on another thread has made me all nostalgic about the 727 as well.

Remember once during the time CBR was closed due an ATC strike and there were no overnight aircraft so had to ferry up my beloved 727 to CBR early in the morning. As I approached SBG there was a much slower company a/c ahead (yes, a 737-also for CBR) and ATC asked for flow reasons could we keep the speed up and expect a vector direct to Church Creek from Wee Jasper (I think).

So we got a vector past the little Slug and climbed at 390-increasing to 410, cruised at .88, descended 390 slowing to 350 at 15 miles. Got to CBR way before the Slug. Much the same technique used to get a chock-to-chock ADL-MEL time of 52 minutes a month or two before. That was as a Captain.

Years before had flown the same ADL-MEL profile as an F/O with Jack Curtis in the LHS....in a real hurry to catch his commute home to SYD. as we approached MEL for a left pattern RW 34 ATC were giving vectors and speed instructions and Jack wasn't following them. I started relaying them to him but it didn't really work and we flashed over MEL at about 320 kts and they cleared us for a right pattern 34 back over EN. Turns out Jack's earpiece had fallen out. ATC were a bit perplexed about what we'd been up to....as he sprinted off the 727 for the SYD flight Jack just said "Can you call the tower and square that away?....thanks mate". Be grounded forever now by CASA or the FOQA watchers.

Somehow need to get a 727 painted n either AN or TN colours parked at either MEL or SYD just to remind one and all of a wonderful era, soon to finish for ever.

[Monopole]

And as progress and technology advances, I hope us 'young Turks' (and not as young turks) can look back upon our 73, 777, 330 or what have you and get all nostalgic ourselves.

As for the B727, I have a friend who will swear on his grave that he once saw shock waves forming on the leading edge. That would of been cool :cool:

[tasdevil.f27]

Nothing like the sound of the old girls leaving LST at 3am on a still winters night :ok:

Might as well cancel this years Perth trip to see the old girl in daylight :(

Pic of VLI in Perth in 07 as I can seem to add it here.

Flickr Photo Download: IMG_1302 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/aviation_rutherford/3009047431/sizes/l/)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/aviation_rutherford/3009047431/sizes/l/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aviation_rutherford/3009047431/sizes/l/

[18-Wheeler]

As for the B727, I have a friend who will swear on his grave that he once saw shock waves forming on the leading edge. That would of been cool

A fair few 727 drivers have seen the shock wave, he's not alone.

[By George]

The 727 will always be my favourite, my initial command and also the nicest handling aircraft I've ever flown. Like all thoughbreds though, it would bite if you were sloppy in speed and sink control, especially approaching the flare. I've done my worst and best landings in that plane. It was built like a brick outhouse with not only a forward and aft mainspar but a keel beam like a ship. The cockpit was battleship grey, no carpet and rivets on the floor like something from the Clyde Shipyard. Fast in the climb and cruise it was maybe a little underpowered on a hot day out of Alice, especially with the LR version operating at 89,409kg MAXTOW with the Dash 15's. Funny that I can remember these figures after all this time, yet had trouble with my ex-wifes birthday! (maybe that's why she is my ex). A handfull with manual reversion, having hydraulic pumps only on 1 and 2 engine. With only number 3 running you worked hard to get it back in the sim. I have read the DC-9 thread with great interest and sadly went F27 to 737 and never flew it. It also sounds like a real aeroplane. How lucky I have been to fly at least one real classic and how sad the current generation have missed these wonderfull beasts. I fly 'all glass' these days like everyone else, but something is missing, todays aeoplanes are quite boring.

[Obie]

Don't be bored, George... I hear what you say, we all do and we all agree, but life goes on and there are some good airplanes today that we can all enjoy just as much as the old classics and they will in time become classics in their own right!

The A320-200 is one such airplane.
The 737-300 is another. :ok:

[Stationair8]

Farewell the mighty B727.

[rob_ginger]

As an old SLF I didn't really like the 727 - very nosiy down the back where I used to travel.

I vividly remember the contrast between the 727 and the 767. I was living in Sydney & doing some work in Brisbane when Ansett introduced the 767 (must have the mid-80's ?). Returned from Brisbane to Sydney in a chock-a-block 727, and in the hot weather we really struggled on the climb out. Two weeks later we were on a brand new 767, with roughly the same number of passengers, so half empty. Geez - take off felt like being in the Space Shuttle ! I still remember looking down after taking off out over the bay and climbing back over the city. It looked like we were already half way to cruising altitude. What a buzz !

I'm so old that I can remember flying in a BOAC Britannia, and the domestic Viscounts and Electras. But my favorite aircraft (as SLF) has to be the 747. A great moment for me was getting to sit in the cockpit jump seat for a dusk landing into Sydney in a 747 - none of that now thanks to 9-11 :{ You chaps up the front get a great view !

[teresa green]

You know, I don't think it is the Aircraft so much, it is the fact that the DC9 and the B727 were thinking mens aeroplanes. As time goes on and the Airlines (and Manufacturers) take away the ability of man to think for himself, and bombard him with their bloody manuals, (I am sure there is one on how to take a Pi#s whilst on board) many older and probably younger pilots look back with nostalgia, to when they could strap a A/C to their ar$e and have fun, serious fun, but fun all the same. Also the loss of the Flight Engineer, always a important member of the crew (and had all the info on the best pubs) I liked having a "stoker" (or a coachdriver as they called themselves, because they sat behind two ars$holes) always interesting to talk to, especially in the dead of night, always a good brain to have around when there was a problem, and to say nothing of the fact by the time you got home, you knew how to fix the car, toaster, washing machine or whatever, always a site of information. Ask any senior C/T Capt on the 400 what he enjoyed most on the 200, it will be (1) he could still think for himself (just) (2) he had a Flight Engineer. Time marches on.

[Wingnuts]

http://i486.photobucket.com/albums/rr223/Wingnutsbucket/AAEland4-1.jpg?t=1230985131

[ennui]

I've always loved the 727.

My first flight on a jet aircraft was as a six year old SY-CS on a TAA 727 (still remember the advertising "The Whispering T Jet", ironic now).

As an 8 year old unaccompanied minor SY-PH in the middle of the night I had my first visit to the cockpit (have always thought that the events of 9/11 and subsequent security regulations would have a large impact on the amount of people desiring a career in the cockpit). I remember that visit vividly to this day. A smoke filled cockpit, with 3 crew, all lit up, explaining patiently how an aircraft flies, what the various instruments did, lighting up the annunciators and taking the time to impart a love of aviation to a child. Well that did it, I was hooked.

A family friend was an Ansett 727 captain. He advised and guided me through a lot of my early training until he went to the middle east in 1989.

My ATPL performance exam was based on the 727 (BN-TL-CS i think, funny, flew that a lot in the real aircraft).

I've flown a lot of aircraft types from GA through to Airlines, at home and abroad, but jumped at the chance to fly the 727. Bad career move possibly(friends said if they don't build it then don't fly it) but never regretted the decision to accept the offer.

I had the privilage and pleasure of being amongst probably one of the last pilots to obtain a 727 endorsement in Australia. I'm not still flying that aircraft now only because I need to provide for my family.

The aircraft handled beautifully, it had performance, an analog cockpit with the smallest ADI I'd seen in my life, and it required something that modern aircraft do not, skill and ability.

My last flight on the 72, before leaving to take a position on the 777 was an absolute pleasure, even the missed approach LT and diversion HB due fog with eventual return ML. After that 5 sector night, before leaving to commence my new position, I knew that I would never really "fly" again!

The people I flew with I will never forget. Characters from the old days of Ansett and TAA. Captains that had flown the aircraft since it was introduced to Australia. Flight Engineers that could actually fix something that broke. Wonderful interesting people, still full of the love of flying, amazing stories and intimate knowledge of best place for a beer in any destination.

Speaking on the flight deck today, when the time comes to talk about how you got to sit where your sitting, every pilot who never had the opportunity to fly the 727, expresses a whimsical desire that they had had the opportunity to have done so.

Thanks guys, it was fun.

[Dave Incognito]

I loved watching them blast out of Cairns. Pretty much the only plane that would make everyone on the tarmac/aeroglen/esplanade stop and take a look. (No doubt trying to see what was making their ears bleed ;))

[The Green Goblin]

It will be sad not seeing them tucked down the south western corner of Perth Airport when I poke my head in there anymore.

Those ugly short little 737's just don't have the sleek look of the 727, they are all but a toy :D

http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff200/mja72/ae733a.jpg

[sixtiesrelic]

Never flew the 72 but had a lot of fun in the DC-3 and DC-9.

My old man flew everything TAA had from Dragon to 727 except the F27 and reckoned the 72 was the best aircraft he ever flew.

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g32/sixtiesrelic/727sPOM1972.jpg
That was TAA gettin' away first.

[sixtiesrelic]

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g32/sixtiesrelic/2classics.jpg

I was visiting the "3" and wandered over to get a close look at TXH and her fuel leaks as well as a different angle in Perth in 2008.
The three does her last flights that you can get on, this coming Sat for anyone in PH.
Another great aircraft to leave the sky for no other reason than some people in power reckoning they shouldn't be flying.

[Jabawocky]

Gooday 60's :ok:

You are sure that TAA unit did not have a fire in one of them 3 donks!:ooh: Bloody smokey old thing.

Have to say my younger days and mnay others were in the 727 and DC9 when the crew took us kids up the front were priveleged indeed! :)

J

[sixtiesrelic]

Yeah Jaba, I was one of those kids then later one of those pilots...you could tell some kids were immediately gettin' the bug. They weren't the gits that just kept asking what's that, what's this wha's... as their eyes darted everywhere either.
It was nice to get big girls up and leanin' forward to look out the window.
The indomintable Rob Riley and I had a good thing going on one flight Bris to Cairns, when a lady who was a pathfinder in the days of going braless, came up for a visit.
She'd had a number of wines to calm her pre-flight nerves and a number more to remain calm on the long flight.
She was brought up to show that there was nothing to worry about.
She was nicely nicely enough to have lost her sense of self preservation and her shirt gaped most enticingly.
Riley and I as the team that we were, wordlessly devised a scheme where one of us would get her attention while the other kept the grin off his face and didn't go crosseyed with bliss.
It was working well till she copped me and moved back suddenly, gripping the front of her shirt.
She left, with the confirmation that, "All men are bastards".
Riley slid his seat back, lit up (his mo was mostly grey except for one edge that was a caramel colour from the nicotine that came from the chain smoking) glared at me and told me I'd be getting no legs tomorrow.
Later, while waiting for the Salvo's to arrive so we could put money in the collecting box at the "Rissole", he forgave me and reckoned it had been a great flight, but I still had a lot to learn before I could become a captain.
The only aircraft that people can go up the front of now is the DC-3 and guess who's trying to have that dangerous past time stopped.

[crocodile redundee]

" GIVE ME 3 MAN & 3 FAN" ANYDAY!!!!!!! (Except for the 747-300 which has got to be the ABSOLUTE ULTIMATE FLYING MACHINE......EVER!!!!!!!

[megle2]

Rob Riley, a top guy.
Big on smokes but was my Fed rep when I was crook.
He had a flat on the broadwater at Bribie Island which we stayed at for a week, no charge!
Wish he was still around to add to these posts.

[Gordstar]

"Wingnuts",,,,,,,,,,,thanks for that beautiful photo mate.

Grand stuff!

Was that taken from the Knob?

LOL

[Manuel Reversion]

Well you boys we are going to have a good old chin wagg at the waratah in a couple of months.3holer make sure you bring the original videos;);):}

[3 Holer]

It's already been arranged.

Glenn Dunston's B727 DVD will be played on Friday and Saturday morning in the main bar - 0630 screening with the BIG breakfast !

Jerka is responsible for any other DVD/videos entertainment !:E

Fitzy and Jack R are organising the poker machine tour and Spud Murphy will be in charge of wet drills.

You and I will be responsible for the 1990 and 1992 AFL Grand Final DVD replays.

[shortfinal737]

All this talk of 727s has got me all nostalgic about my first ever flight as a kid! VH-ANF from Perth to Sydney ... (I still have the postcard I was given by the Captain around somewhere!). Would any of you learned gents know where the old girl ended up?

[Flava Saver]

ANF is working in South Africa as a freighter. Here's a piccy of it, not in a very favourable position.

http://cdn-www.airliners.net/aviation-photos/middle/7/0/2/1106207.jpg

[By George]

ANF was not the nicest of the 'LR' fleet, it always needed about 3 degrees of right rudder trim for some reason. It was bent somewhere and some of us called it 'The Crab'.Looking at the photogragh that might be just what the old girl needed to straighten her up! On the issue of postcards, I remember a small boy visiting the cockpit with his mum and asking about the escape tape panel. I flicked it open to show him the coiled rope and some rotten sod had stuck a 'Map of Tasmania' in there cut out from a Playboy Magazine. I will never forget the look on his mums face. She had him out of there and away from 'these terrible people' quick smart. Very embarrassing. If that was you and your mum Shortfinal737 tell her I am sorry.

[GloryBoy]

Somehow need to get a 727 painted n either AN or TN colours parked at either MEL or SYD just to remind one and all of a wonderful era, soon to finish for ever.

I whole heartedly agree. The 727 was once the heart and soul of Aussie aviation. As a kid growing up in Perth the only way to the dreaded east was on an Ansett or TAA 727. They were the glue that kept Australia together.

I reckon one at the new domestic terminal in PER and one at SYD, maybe painted Ansett on one side and TAA on the other.

Just need a few hundred thousand. Or we could all put our $950 chairman Rudd dollars into it.

[3 Holer]

I'll be in that with you Glory Boy, now we only need another 937 starters and we have a 727 ! :ok:

[AN Flyer]

ANF was not the nicest of the 'LR' fleet, it always needed about 3 degrees of right rudder trim for some reason.

By George - Thank you!! In all my years I had never heard that story about ANF :-) Amazing some of the things you learn years down the track. I can still remember standing on the tarmac at the MJB Ansett 727 farewell hangar party in 1997 in front of ANA and ANB having just done their last staff "farewell flights" around Melbourne. ANE and ANF were already painted out, ready for ferry to the U.S for freighter conversion and "hush kits", along with the last (non-LR) RMN, which was engineless!

Sure nice to know all these birds got a life extension after their Ansett careers, and somewhat ironic that they outlasted Ansett itself.

[WellingtonFF]

It brings back memories for me also as SLF. I am also old enough to have flown DC3s, (in the days of Mickey Mouse Airlines around the outback of WA) Viscounts, Electras and so on, but I used to love flying the 727, particularly on the MEL - PER leg which I used to do a lot. In the 70s I remember that it used to be a regular occurrence for the refuelers to strike at Perth airport just before school holidays, and it was always touch and go whether to take the train back home or not. I seem to remember that TAA worked out a system whereby they filled up the 727 in MEL, flew to PER, and then went back to Melbourne via Meekatharra, where they refueled again before flying back home. I remember sitting on the tarmac at Meekatharra just prior to one Xmas, with the temperature in the forties, the plane being refuelled, the back ramp down and the front door open with the hot wind blowing through the plane and the hosties desperately trying to keep up with the beer.

I have always thought the 727 had a lot of character. I even saw one through Wellington about six months ago.

I admit to having been a lurker on this site for some time, but as SLF for many years and fascinated by flying and the technology behind it, I think PPRuNe is a marvelous insight in the aviation industry. I hope the professionals can tolerate the serious amateurs amongst us from time to time. :)