After working on, and flying this type for many years, I'm still amazed how this amazing triple Fowler flap system could hide so neatly. Superb Boeing design.
Mo River I was wonfering if it actually doubled the wing size. I couldn’t imagine what the stall speed would be if you didn’t have those beautiful flaps.
I am amazed. I have flown several times, and I have watched the flaps and slats deploy on several different aircraft types, but i was not aware that the lift enhancers on any aircraft moved this far. It is an amazing design.
I worked for Boeing at the plant where these planes were built. It was fascinating when they had these planes sitting on jack stands and were performing all and I mean all of the systems tests. Landing gear, doors, slats, ailerons, flaps, spoilers, rudder, trim tabs, elevators and horizontal tail trim and thrust reverser buckets. If you don’t work around this airplane, you would be surprised at just how much of this airplane moves and changes shape. I believe there is an additional lower flap setting available on these planes, because those Fowler flaps almost touch the ground when truly fully extended. After some early crashes resulting from improper use of the fully extended flaps, the final lowered position was locked out unless the operating environment absolutely required the truly maximum performance that final position required. You could put a 737 into and out places other jet airliners just could not go. Including the 737 and DC-9. And on the top end, this airplane could top 620 mph. The 727 was not long legged, but you could get to the end of that leg fast.
If you're an aviation buff, one of the best (and sometimes most humorous) non-fiction aviation safety books written for the general public was "Loud and Clear" by Robert J. Serling back around 1969. To paraphrase a quote in the book about the 727, "On this airplane, you don't lower the flaps, you disassemble the whole damn wing!"
Remember this fondly as a Kid. Flew on VH-RMX a few times. The 727-200 is the most interesting wing you can fly on. Love it when the lift dumpers deploy on touch down and you can see right into the wing and also right through it! Loved it.
All the more a technical accomplishment considering all of these pumps, jackscrews, hinges etc have to operate in a high speed environment on flexing wings while in rain, snow, ice, spray from wheels to name a few.
Yes it was ;) I never got tired of watching flaps work on the 727s. I must admit, the mix of the RR engine whirr and the not so complicated flaps on the L-1011 was nice, too. But that's another story.
I remember sitting behind the wing, where that window is, and being astonished by this system. Once the spoilers come up it looks like there’s no wing left! The triple-slotted flaps are just amazing. I made it a point to always sit there so I could see this engineering marvel, and it never got old. Still my all-time favorite airliner 😍
The extraordinary complexity of those "triple-slotted Fowlers" came about due to the desire to bring 727s into regional airports with less than 7000' runways. It worked!
The 727 always did have a complex and beautiful wing. I've often heard many people misinterpret the 727's leading edge devices as being "all" slats though, that was incorrect. The 727 had both "slats" and "Krueger Flaps" on the leading edge. The inboard portion that pushed up from underneath are the Krueger Flaps....the outboard portion that slides down are the slats.
On April 4, 1979, a Boeing 727 with 82 passengers and a crew of 7 rolled over and plummeted from an altitude of 39,000 feet to within seconds of crashing were it not for the crew's actions to save the plane. The cause of the unexplained dive was the subject of one of the longest NTSB investigations at that time.
On the 727 it was apparently possible to fly faster if you pull the circuit breaker to the leading edge slats (so they couldn't move) and extend the flaps one notch. Which the captain did in this incident. The flight engineer was unaware of this because he was on a break, but when he come back he put the breaker back in and the slats extended in much too high speed and the plane got unstable.
Absolutely gorgeous if the people realize just how complicated these planes are in the intense engineering that goes into these planes to make them safe and reliable people would praise the airline industry thank you for that video
This is what made me fall in love with aviation. Growing up as a kid taking summer vacation to California on a Delta 727-200adv. The minute I saw the flaps extend I was hooked.
ah my other love, the three holer. spent many thousands of hours in the left seat of that bird and miss her !! The wing sequence is brilliant, imagine developing that without computers.
Triplanelover, I recall once in Denver on a hot day, the captain had to return to the terminal to offload some cargo because the temperature had increased during our delay....when we did take off, he ran the engines against the brakes until I thought the plane would shake apart, then we rolled for what seemed like an eternity. She staggered into the air. I miss the 727 too, even as a passenger!
Smoothest riding, quietest jet IMHO. First trip on a 727 was in 1965, Atlanta to L.A. as a 10 year old. Last trip on one was in 1993 Minneapolis to Ontario, Ca and back. Only memorable event on a 727 was leaving Mexico City in mid 1980’s. Plane lost an engine and we still climbed right out of the airport. I wear a special hat when travelling these days, “If it ain’t Boeing, I’m ain’t going.”
As a kid I was fortunate enough to being taken on holidays with my parents now and again. Quite a few trips involved taking a 72 or 73 to destinations around the Mediterranian. They were the usual aircraft for these trips (travelling on LH out of Germany most of the time) in those days. After my first flight I always insistet that we would be seated behind the wings so that I was able to see all flap-, aileron- and spoiler movements at all time. It was the best part of every holiday - the flight to and from whereever we'd go to. Today, I still love flying, but the exitement has largely disappeared - not least due to those (by design) less complicated and less spectacularly deploying) trailing edge flaps (take the A320, e.g.). Luckily, I could witness the DC-10s inboard flaps (like barn doors) being fully extended, a few times, too. Dunno why, but it did something to me.
B737-200 had pretty much the same system. It was slightly simplified on later 737 models by removal of the foreflaps, making it a double-slotted system. Regardless, if you were a heavy check mechanic and drew the TE flap lubrication task, you were in for a long day's work.
Was that the common later day flaps 30....Or the earlier flaps 40 landing? The 727 was limited by noise ordinances to flaps 30 landings starting in the late 1980's, since a flaps 40 landing required far more engine power and thus noise. How was the 727 prevented from landing with flaps 40, which shortened landing roll considerably and saved the brakes and allowed higher landing weights/load? Answer: A bolt that kept the flap lever from going to the 40 degree position. More than one crew removed that bolt in order to get into an airport when the weather was down, and this was one of the big secrets of the 727!
Amazing how technology has evolved I love every single second of it lots of credit to all Men and Women who have dedicated their talents and knowledge to make our lives easier 👍👍.
@BRUNSWICK 8BALL9BALL: Completely agree. The same can be said about the dedicated men and women of the medical/scientific community. A big thanks to these people who's hard work and dedication saved my life, and the lives of countless others.
Just been looking through other comments. A lot of people seem to feel the same as I do regarding wings. Yep, they are incredible. They fall apart and rebuild after landing. Some people talked about their first flights. Mine was as a four year old on a DC3 between Wellington and Auckland in New Zealand. It was operated by NAC and was probably a converted ww2 military transport.
Truly, one of the few aircraft that can take it's wings apart, and put them back together again. I only wish that I could have spent another 10,000 in one. The last of the real airliners.
@@gravelbar Now your talkin.' Three man crew, short field ops, nosewheel brakes for even shorter field ops, fast, a good engineer (almost all of them were) could 'make fuel' by balancing the fuel to an aft cg. She could tell you when she was happy. She would humble you when she was not. NO FMC to argue with. No 'super snitch' computer. And... you could load pax from the ramp using the rear airstair. Just don't try to out-smart her as 'Hoot' Gibson and his crew found out with some unusal attitudes one night. A true work horse. I didn't care for the A-320, and learned to live with the 73'- 800NG with it's magic boxes that take second place to AirBus's philosophy. "Check Essential" is code for those who claim to have been on the 72'.
I was amazed watching these being deployed on a flight from SF to Reno many years ago flying over the Sierra's ! P.S. I have only in the last two weeks been wondering if there is a video that shows this. Then Boom, here it is ! Seems like A.I. read my mind......
Damn. There’s some shit happening inside those wings. You just can’t see it. Like clockwork. All you see are the hands moving. Not the 100 things turning inside
Slats always bother me because they look so intrusive to aerodynamics, like it would cause so much more drag than lift but I guess it's all about the wing angle that gives it a clean cut and directs the air.
The slats actually create a ‘slot’ along the span of the wing leading edge. The purpose of the slot is to cause the air to cling to the upper surface for longer, delaying the onset of the stall. On 727’s, the outer slats extend before the inner ones to ensure the ailerons remain effective at low speed/high angles of attack. The bulk of the lift is created at the inboard end of the wing so the krueger flaps extend at the same time as the outboard slats. Krueger flaps are a throwback to the 707’s, which had full span kruegers. They are cheaper, simpler, lighter and easier to rig than slats so Boeing continues to use them on all models of the 737.
these wings on modern aircraft are truly amazing. ALL those flaps and slats and the myriad mechanisms to work them AND they hold fuel, for crying out loud!
Recuerdo cuando venía de Comodoro Rivadavia a Buenos Aires era el último vuelo del Comandante,no recuerdo su nombre dijo que el 727 tenía la mejor ala construida por la Boeing,a demás era instructor de ese avión en los Simuladores de Aer.Argentinas Como era su último vuelo realizó un vuelo rasante de 50 metros por Aeroparque Ciudad de Bs.Aires. FACINANTE !!...
I am not a pilot, just a passenger. When sitting by a window near the wing I am always amazed at how the wing falls apart and then rebuilds itself! Wonderful design and engineering. Thank you for the video, great to see all the sequences happening. All the best from Sydney Australia 🇦🇺
Yes you are wrong, or I think don't quite understand what CAD really stands for. CAD is an integration of all design and manufacturing by computer-generated data. Merely calculating aerodynamic design parameters by computer is not CAD. Boeing's first aircraft designed entirely in CAD was the 777 whose design began in 1990. The 737 was begun in 1964 when CAD could only be dreamed about. Other designers than Boeing also had their computer skills in the 1960s, for instance the Concorde employed computer design for the wing.
Engines can not be called best ever though! Total lb on all 3 Engines was very poor compare to MTOW. The Valsan RE conversions made the 727 model more modern! www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/rohr-relaunches-valsan-727-re-engineing-programme-11862/
wow that's almost 50 degrees. the 1st setting is for take off, the 2nd is for slowing and decent, the 3rd is for keeping lift while on approach, 4th & 5th must be for final approach and landing
well that's just in case aviation lovers like myself don't know that stuff. i've been flying since i was born. my mom was an aircraft mechanic for continental back in the early 1990s and a perk of the job we both got to fly back then.
David Horgan, i am quite grateful for Derek Wall`s explanation - As for "grass is green" several pilots here have explained that the 40° setting was an exception ( Like for landing in Funchal - Madeira in the 70s) and some 727s had that setting even barred, so nothing`s from the obvious here.
Great to see and very rare for old pilots discussing flap settings. As a passenger I loved watching the big jackscrew as the flaps went down .Had lots of memorable flights on theses as they were very common, one between Melbourne and Sydney in 93, an Ansett plane in East West colours. It was just a beautiful day in every way, not a bump for the whole flight, there was stratus clouds below and the sun was reflecting off them.Also got the seat behind an Emergency Exit so had huge leg room as there was no seat in the row in front.
I guess you wouldn't want to lose power with the flaps fully extended... Let me just say you wouldn't want to lose power at any time while in flight...
Flaps are banned from being fully extended in the 727, given the excessive sink rate it causes, which is difficult to correct given the spool time of the engines.
I lived near Boise Airport (KBOI), and I distinctly remember these beautiful aircraft. They were louder then the A-10's and F-15's that took off from there. It's a shame to see them go.
September 2018 “Aviation Safety” magazine article “Beyond Flaps” brought me here. So much easier to visualize what the article explains after watching this excellent video.
I was on one of the final scheduled passenger flights on Champion Airlines in Aug., 2007. I figured it'd likely be my final 72 flight... and it was. They stopped scheduled pax the next month & charters soon after... I miss those beautiful machines dearly... MANY great flights over the years...
Was always good fun to fully extend one set on Alternate, then select a mid position and go to normal hydraulic ops. One set going up and one set down...confused many a hangar wing watcher.
wonder why these flaps don't snap with pressure when flying - you would think the"hinges" connecting flaps would not be strong enough - look so thin -but Ive no idea what Im talking about -great video -thank you !
A very complex flap system in comparison to today's aircraft. It was very nice to have two electric B system pumps and the ground interconnect for quick ground checks vs the single electric A and B sys electric pumps and no interconnect in newer 737s.
Gorgeous ! I love the Boeing 727. I'm sorry to see it leave the flying world. It's interesting how the Krueger Flaps flapped backwards under the wing, and the leading edge slats slid backwards over and into the top of the wings. Aarre Peltomaa
And in the video we only see the 30 setting There is actually a 40 setting that was blocked by almost all operators Largely because if the approach isn't set up correctly 40 will cause an unrecoverable sink rate Secondarily, when in 40 the engines had to be set so high that it burned enormous amounts of fuel and was absurdly loud
